DMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin was defeated by TVK candidate V.S. Babu in Kolathur constituency in the assembly elections.
V.S. Babu, who is now TVK joint general secretary, won by a margin of 9,122 votes after 22 rounds of vote counting. He received over 82,000 votes, while Stalin garnered only around 73,000.
AIADMK's R. Santhankrishnan was pushed to the third position with 14,000 votes.
In the past, Stalin had won from the Kolathur assembly for three consecutive terms, but this is the second time he got defeated in assembly elections. In 1991, he lost the Thousand Lights constituency in Chennai.
However, Stalin got more votes in 2026 compared to 2021, when he received 70,384 votes against AIADMK's Aadhi Rajaram. Rajaram is contesting against Stalin's son Udhayanidhi Stalin in Chepauk-Triplicane seat this time.
Speaker A. Appavu also lost to TVK candidate Christopher in Radhapuram, Tirunelveli. Several other DMK ministers, including Thangam Thennarasu, TRB Raja, EV Velu, KN Nehru and Ma Subramanian were also trailing in their respective constituencies when this report was published.
As per latest EC data, TVK was declared winner in three constituencies and was ahead in 104 others when this article was published. This comes as most exit polls predicted a DMK return in Tamil Nadu. Vijay was leading in both seats he contested, Tiruchirappali East and Perambur.
However, the party needs 118 seats to form a government on its own. We have to wait and see if TVK is get support from NDA or DMK-led alliance in the post-counting scenario. Smaller parties from the NDA or DMK-led SPA could also be roped in to secure majority in the assembly.
