CHENNAI: ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay-led TVK has emerged as a major political force in Tamil Nadu, reshaping the state’s political landscape in the 2026 Assembly elections. TVK achieved what other political scions had failed to do by emerging as the third pole in Tamil politics, with its gains coming largely at the DMK’s expense and causing some damage to the ADMK as well.According to the results, TVK won 106 seats in its maiden Assembly election battle, while the DMK secured 60 seats and the ADMK got 47. Congress and BJP won five seats each, while the Left parties secured four seats.The performance marks a dramatic shift from the 2021 Assembly elections, when the DMK had won 133 seats and the ADMK 66.Assembly Result 2026TVK emerged as the single largest party with 106 seats, followed by DMK with 60 and ADMK with 47. Congress and BJP won five seats each, while smaller alliance partners and independents accounted for the remaining seats.Assembly Result 2021In the previous Assembly election, the DMK had secured 133 seats, while the ADMK won 66. Congress had won 18 seats, while BJP and Left parties managed four seats each.Assembly Segments of LS 2024In the 2024 Lok Sabha Assembly segment trends, the DMK-led alliance had dominated with 125 segments, while Congress led in 52. BJP was ahead in 24 segments and ADMK in three.
How the regions votedTVK registered its strongest performance in North Tamil Nadu, winning 43 of the region’s 84 seats. The DMK, which had won 61 seats in the region in 2021, dropped sharply to 13 seats. ADMK improved its tally slightly to 21 seats from 14 in the previous election. In the western region, TVK secured 27 of the 54 seats, while ADMK won 16 and DMK managed eight seats. In 2021, ADMK had dominated the region with 32 seats. In Central Tamil Nadu, the DMK remained the leading party with 15 seats, though it was down from 27 seats in 2021. TVK won 11 seats in the region, while ADMK secured five. Southern Tamil Nadu also saw a strong TVK performance, with the party winning 26 of the 60 seats. DMK won 24 seats in the region, down from 32 in 2021, while ADMK’s tally fell to five from 16.Vote share (%)
TVK secured a vote share of 35.1% in the 2026 election, ahead of DMK’s 24.2% and ADMK’s 21.1%.In comparison, the DMK had polled 37.7% vote share in 2021, while the ADMK had secured 33.3%.Strike rateTVK recorded a strike rate of 45.9% after contesting 233 seats in its first Assembly election since the party’s formation. The DMK registered a strike rate of 34.1%, winning from 176 seats it contested. In the 2021 Assembly election, the party had recorded a 71% strike rate after contesting 188 seats. ADMK posted a strike rate of 27.3% after contesting 172 seats. In 2021, the party had a strike rate of 35% from 191 seats. Congress recorded a strike rate of 17.9% after contesting 28 seats. In the previous Assembly election, the party had contested 25 seats and registered a 72% strike rate.Vote’s worth (in lakh)TVK required an average of 1.6 lakh votes to win one Assembly seat in the 2026 election, while DMK required 2 lakh votes per seat. Congress needed 3.3 lakh votes for each seat won, while ADMK required 2.2 lakh votes. BJP recorded the highest figure, requiring 14.6 lakh votes to win one seat. In comparison, during the 2021 Assembly election, DMK required 1.31 lakh votes per seat, Congress 1.1 lakh, ADMK 2.33 lakh and BJP 3.03 lakh votes per seat won.
Other highlightsThe highest victory margin was recorded by E Palaniswami of ADMK, who defeated independent candidate Premkumar in Edappadi by 98,110 votes.The narrowest margin was reported in Tiruppattur, where DMK’s Periakaruppan was leading TVK candidate S Sethupathy by 230 votes till midnight.Kamali S of TVK became the youngest MLA at 28 after defeating BJP leader L Murugan in Avanashi.Bhojarajan M of BJP, aged 79, emerged as the oldest MLA after defeating Ibrahim R of TVK in Udhagamandalam.Leema Rose Martin, elected on an ADMK ticket from Lokudi, was reported as the richest MLA with assets worth Rs 5,863 crore.Actual vote share of winning party if every eligible voter is countedWith an electorate of 5.7 crore and turnout of 86.2%, the leading party’s vote share accounted for 34.9% of the total votes polled.Its effective vote share as a percentage of the total electorate stood at 30.1%.
