Sundar C., a multifaceted talent in the Tamil movie industry and the husband of Tamil Nadu BJP Vice-President Khushbu Sundar, will fight the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly elections on a Puthiya Needhi Katchi ticket. The party is a part of the AIADMK-led NDA alliance and will be using the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol.
Sundar C. will be contesting from the Madurai Central seat that has been allotted to the Puthiya Needhi Katchi by the AIADMK.
“For the 2026 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections, under the National Democratic Alliance, the Madurai Central constituency allocated to the Puthiya Needhi Katchi by the AIADMK will have the following candidate. Film producer, director, and actor Sundar C., son of Chidambaram Pillai, has been selected as the party’s candidate for the Madurai Central constituency," the party's president A. C. Shanmugam said in a statement.
The BJP, the second-biggest player in the alliance, is expected to hand one seat to the party. The announcement regarding the same will be made on 30 March, Puthiya Needhi Katchi founder Shanmugam added. The party candidate for this seat will fight the assembly polls using the saffron party's 'Lotus' symbol.
The Puthiya Needhi Katchi is part of the AIADMK–BJP-led alliance. During the recent seat-sharing discussions held at the AIADMK party office, A. C. Shanmugam did not participate, leading to speculation that he was unhappy with the way things had turned out. However, he held a meeting with AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, local media reports said.
Madurai Central constituency is currently represented by the Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services, Palanivel Thiaga Rajan. In 2021, he had crushed the AIADMK's N. Jothi Muthuramalingam by a margin of 34,176 votes, polling 49.47% of the total votes polled.