Dharapuram bypoll: Is 'turncoat' Sathyabama making the battle tough for Vijay's TVK?

When Vijay arrived in Dharapuram on September 30, the political message was unmistakable. The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) founder and actor-turned-politician not merely wanted to campaign for his candidate P. Sathyabama, but also to demonstrate his party’s growing political reach in the Kongu region.

But Dharapuram, even for Vijay, is proving more complicated than the campaign might suggest.

The October 6 bypoll has turned significant as Sathyabama herself created the vacancy. She had won Dharapuram for the AIADMK in the April 23, 2026 Assembly election and subsequently resigned only to join the TVK. The AIADMK has fielded K. Bhanumathi, while the DMK has nominated Dr S. Suganya. The CPI and NTK are also in the contest, making it more than a simple TVK-AIADMK face-off.

Standing atop Vijay’s campaign van, Sathyabama turned emotional while seeking votes. “It is two months since I have scrolled my mobile phone. There is a deliberate campaign going on against me,” she said as tears rolled down her cheeks. Vijay immediately held her shoulders and consoled her.

In Dharapuram, a constituency in western Tamil Nadu, the sentiment against her is strong. She is being chased away by many villagers and her former AIADMK colleagues. The AIADMK calls her “Balti Bama”, meaning somersault Bama, while the DMK calls her “Potti Bama”, meaning suitcase Bama, alleging that she took a bribe to quit the AIADMK and join the TVK. These campaigns have made the going tough for Sathyabama.

In fact, the very numbers underline the challenge. In the Assembly election, Sathyabama secured 81,100 votes (40.78 per cent), against the DMK candidate’s 64,373 votes, which was only 32.37 per cent. The TVK, which contested alone then, polled 46,438 votes (23.35 per cent). The bypoll, however, raises a fundamental question: can Sathyabama carry her personal AIADMK vote base into the TVK and win the election? This question has turned out to be a sharper edge during the campaign.

Sathyabama is facing direct anger from sections of voters over her resignation. While campaigning in Kundadam, villagers confronted her and questioned why she had resigned so soon after being elected. She denied allegations that she had taken money to switch parties and argued that she left the AIADMK because of its alleged attempt to align with the DMK. At a village called Veruvedampalayam, in the interiors of Dharapuram, the protesters questioned Sathyabama over water availability for the Uppar dam and the government’s implementation of its farm loan waiver promise. These issues have turned against Sathyabama, giving an opportunity to the AIADMK and the DMK to shift the campaign away from Vijay's larger political narrative and towards everyday constituency concerns.

The AIADMK, meanwhile, is attempting to make the defection itself the central issue. Edappadi K. Palaniswami, while campaigning for his party's candidate, started his speech saying, “Oh! People of Dharapuram! I have come to you seeking justice for the betrayal.” His entire campaign speech attacked Vijay’s TVK and Sathyabama for backstabbing him and the AIADMK. For the AIADMK, Dharapuram is also an opportunity to defend a constituency it had won convincingly only months earlier.

The DMK is trying to exploit the same vulnerability from another direction. Its campaign focuses on the question of whether an elected MLA should resign soon after winning and seek another mandate under a different party. Senior leaders, including K.N. Nehru and V. Senthil Balaji, have been involved in the campaign, while DMK president M.K. Stalin is also scheduled to campaign in Dharapuram.

Vijay, however, during his September 30 campaign, responded by broadening the battle. At his Dharapuram rally, he accused the DMK and AIADMK of having a tacit understanding and said that the TVK is the only political force challenging both the Dravidian parties. The DMK and AIADMK have rejected the allegation of having made a deal to defeat the TVK.

The symbolism is important. Dharapuram is an AIADMK-leaning pocket, and Vijay has been trying to make an electoral breakthrough in precisely such areas. His decision to invoke MGR and Jayalalithaa while attacking both the AIADMK and the DMK shows the larger strategy: attract traditional AIADMK voters without allowing the opposition to define the TVK as merely a new party built around defections.

For the TVK, Dharapuram is about more than retaining one Assembly seat. It is a test of whether Vijay's personal popularity, his party's political positioning, and the organisational machinery of his new alliance can overcome local resentment over defections and constituency-specific grievances.

The result will also offer an early indication of whether the TVK can retain voters who supported its candidates in the Assembly election while simultaneously drawing from the established vote bases of older parties. In Dharapuram, the contest is increasingly less about Vijay's ability to draw a crowd and more about whether that crowd translates into votes for Sathyabama. The October 6 bypoll will reveal whether Vijay’s charisma can overcome the sentiment against Sathyabama and secure her victory.