Chennai: A glitzy reel culture and cinema-driven emotional appeal powered Vijay‘s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam to win 14 of 16 seats in the city — a feat neither M G Ramachandran nor J Jayalalithaa achieved on their debut. When MGR captured power in 1977, he won only one of the 14 seats then in the city. Jayalalithaa won none in the city in 1989.Barring Chepauk–Triplicane and Harbour, TVK triumphed in all other constituencies in the city. Even chief minister M K Stalin bit the dust in Kolathur seat.Vijay won by around 53,715 votes in Perambur, followed by R K Nagar candidate Marie Wilson with 49,668 and Velachery candidate R Kumar with 33,305 votes. In Villivakkam and T Nagar, TVK’s top leaders Aadhav Arjuna and Bussy Anand won by 17,302 and 13,027 votes respectively. In Mylapore, TVK’s P Venkataraman won by 28,972 votes defeating DMK‘s incumbent MLA D Velu and BJP veteran Tamilisai Soundarrajan. TVK’s Arul Prakasham defeated Ma Subramanian in Saidapet by 28,514 votes.TVK attributed the surge to a strong backing from dalit voters, fishermen and an urban, issue-oriented electorate seeking change. G V Sriram, TVK district executive member, said early trends show a 30:70 (TVK:DMK) shift among Muslims, 50:50 shift among Christians, and over 60% shift towards TVK among women.“We are still getting the micro booth-level data, and we will be analysing our strengths and weaknesses from Tuesday. The yearning-of-change vote has been our biggest strength, and our manifesto promises such as the gas cylinder scheme, and monthly welfare have reached women strongly,” he said. Another key factor, TVK sources said, has been inducting candidates such as J C D Prabhakar, a three-time MLA, and V S Babu, with strong local administrative networks, alongside targeted digital campaigning that channelled anti-incumbency against DMK.
