New Delhi: Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam fell just short of the majority mark of 118, missing it by 10 seats. However, a closer look at the results reveals how narrow that gap really was.
According to Times of India, in at least a dozen constituencies, TVK lost by razor-thin margins that could have easily been overturned with a slight swing in votes. In one seat, the defeat margin was under 300 votes, while in several others it was below 1,000. Overall, 12 TVK candidates lost by less than 2,000 votes.
This contrasts sharply with the party’s sweeping wins elsewhere. In seven constituencies, TVK registered emphatic victories with margins ranging from 60,000 to 90,000 votes, while another 27 candidates secured wins by margins between 25,000 and 60,000—highlighting both its strongholds and the fine margins that kept it from a clear majority.
Among the constituencies where TVK suffered narrow defeats, Thirukkoyilur in Villupuram district stands out. TVK candidate Vijay R Baranibalaji lost here to AIADMK’s S Palanisamy by a slender margin of just 285 votes.
In Tirupathur constituency in Sivaganga district, TVK’s R Seenivasa Sethupathy defeated sitting minister K R Periyakaruppan by a single vote — the narrowest possible margin.
The highest margin came from Sholinganallur, where its candidate secured victory by a margin of 96,780 votes.
However, the biggest win in the state was recorded by Edappadi K Palaniswami of the AIADMK, who polled 1.48 lakh votes and won the Edappadi seat in Salem district by a margin of 98,110 votes. A TVK-backed Independent candidate, Premkumar, finished a distant second with 50,823 votes.
“If the TVK candidate’s nomination was not rejected, Palaniswami would have faced a much tougher fight,” a senior AIADMK leader told Times of India.
Overall, TVK defeated AIADMK candidates in 25 constituencies and wrested 51 seats from the DMK. Nearly 40 of these wins against the DMK came from northern districts, including 14 seats in Chennai—traditionally seen as a DMK stronghold. The party’s victory margins ranged widely, from a few hundred votes to over 50,000.
In direct contests between the two Dravidian rivals across 122 constituencies, the DMK won 18 seats against the AIADMK with margins between 6,000 and 23,000 votes. The AIADMK, meanwhile, outperformed its arch-rival in 21 seats, securing margins ranging from 9,000 to 41,000 votes.
Vijay on Wednesday met Tamil Nadu governor Rajendra Arlekar at the Lok Bhavan in Chennai.
The actor-turned-politician, whose party emerged as the single largest in the state in the Assembly election results, staked claim to form government in Tamil Nadu.
