In the Tamil Nadu bypolls, the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), led by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, clinched victories in both seats in the by-elections held on October 6, while in Puducherry (All India N.R. Congress) the ruling NDA allay retained the Thattanchavady seat.
Madurantakam and Dharapuram are Scheduled Caste-reserved constituencies. The results are significant for the four-month-old TVK government, as they reflect its performance and serve as a test of Vijay’s popularity and that of his party.
After 23 rounds of counting, TVK candidate P. Sathyabama won the Dharapuram by-election by 9,471 votes, polling 66,841 votes. DMK candidate S. Suganya finished second with 57,370 votes, while AIADMK nominee K. Banumathi secured 45,280 votes.
TVK candidate Maragatham Kumaravel won the Madurantakam Assembly bypoll with 70,916 votes, defeating DMK candidate I. Paranthaman, who secured 51,675 votes, by a margin of 19,241 votes. AIADMK’s Kanitha Sampath finished third with 46,431 votes.
TVK founder and Chief Minister Vijay said in a statement, “I reiterate: this victory belongs neither to me, Vijay, as an individual, nor solely to the Tamizhaga Vettri Kazhagam.” He said the results represented a victory for political decency and personal civility. Vijay thanked voters in both constituencies and congratulated TVK candidates Maragatham Kumaravel and Sathyabhama on their victories.
Minister CTRF Nirmal Kumar stated that the twin bypoll victories served as a direct endorsement of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s governance and leadership over the four-month-old TVK government.
In the May 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, Sathyabama won the Dharapuram constituency with 81,100 votes as an AIADMK candidate, defeating DMK candidate T. Indirani, who secured 64,373 votes, by a margin of 16,727 votes.
Similarly, in Madurantakam, Maragatham Kumaravel of the AIADMK won with 69,284 votes, defeating TVK candidate Ezhil Katharine Ezhilmalai, who secured 62,090 votes, by a margin of 7,194 votes.
In neighbouring Puducherry, the NDA secured a victory in the Thattanchavady Assembly constituency, with its candidate Ashok Anand winning the seat by a margin of around 8,500 votes. The bypoll was announced after Chief Minister N. Rangaswamy resigned from the seat while retaining the Mangalam Assembly constituency.
The ruling All India NR Congress (AINRC) candidate, backed by the BJP and AIADMK, Ashok Anand won by 8,482 votes. His victory margin was almost double that of Chief Minister Rangaswamy. Anand secured 13,358 votes out of the 21,756 votes polled in the constituency. His nearest rival, E. Vinayagam of the Congress, supported by TVK and VCK, received 4,876 votes, while DMK candidate K. Sethu Selvam finished third with 2,664 votes.
In the April 2026 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, TVK won 108 seats, falling short of a majority in the 234-member House. With the support of the Congress, the VCK joining the government and the Left parties extending support from outside, it formed a coalition government. Soon after the polls, Maragatham Kumaravel of Madurantakam, Jeyakumar of Perundurai and Sathyabama of Dharapuram resigned from the AIADMK and joined the TVK.
Maragatham Kumaravel is a two-time MLA and former Member of Parliament, while Jeyakumar is serving his second term as an MLA. Before the resignations, the AIADMK had a total strength of 47 MLAs in the Assembly.
The AIADMK MLAs joined the TVK at the Secretariat immediately after resigning from their seats. Their resignations were duly accepted by Assembly Speaker JCD Prabakar. Later, three more MLAs — Esakki Subaya of Ambasamudram, C. Vijayabaskar, former Health Minister, of Viralimalai, and M.R. Vijayabhaskar, former Transport Minister, of Karur — joined the TVK.
Another AIADMK MLA and former minister, S. Semmalai, joined the TVK in September. Chief Minister Vijay retained his Perambur seat in Chennai and resigned from his Tiruchirappalli East seat.
The Madras High Court has postponed its verdict on petitions challenging the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker’s decision to accept the resignations of six rebel AIADMK MLAs, with orders reserved.
However, the High Court had earlier cleared the way for bypolls in Madurantakam and Dharapuram, which were necessitated by the resignations of the incumbent MLAs who joined the TVK. The Election Commission of India (ECI) did not announce a bypoll for Vijay’s constituency in view of a pending election petition.
The campaign saw Chief Minister Vijay, his Cabinet colleagues and alliance leaders touring extensively. In the DMK, its president M.K. Stalin, his son Udhayanidhi Stalin and other leaders campaigned, while AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami and other senior party leaders also toured extensively to seek votes, making the bypolls resemble a general election.
