Tamil Nadu poll shocker: TVK candidate defeats DMK veteran by just 1 vote in nail-biting finish

Tamil Nadu Election Results: Actor Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) scripted a stunning debut in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, winning 108 seats in the 234-member assembly. The election results were announced on 4 May.

Vijay's party ended the long-standing DMK-AIADMK duopoly in its historic performance, emerging as the single-largest party. The DMK ended with 59 seats while the AIADMK won 47 seats. Vijay is likely to take oath as the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu later this week.

The results threw up several upsets. One of the most striking was DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin losing to VS Babu in the Kolathur seat. The 73-year-old leader has won from Kolathur three times. Babu is also a leader of the newly formed Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam.

There were other upsets, too, some with the narrowest possible margins. There were about 15 constituencies where the winning margins were less than 1,000 votes. But what stood out among the thinnest margins was the contest in the Tiruppattur Assembly seat in Sivaganga district in Tamil Nadu. Here, a senior Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and former minister in the MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government lost by one vote, as per numbers released by the Election Commission.

Periyakaruppan KR has been MLA from this seat since 2006. The sitting MLA and State Minister for Co-operatives was seeking re-election from the Tiruppattur seat in the 2026 assembly election held on 23 May. But the DMK veteran faced defeat at the hands of TVK candidate Seenivasa Sethupathy R in perhaps the closest contest across Tamil Nadu.

Sethupathy R bagged 83,375 votes, while Periyakaruppan got 83,374. The difference – just one vote.

There were a total of 15 candidates in the fray in the 2026 Assembly elections, including BJP candidate Thirumaran KC, AIPTMMK candidate Umadevi S and NTK candidate Ramya Mohan.

Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Thurumaran KC ended as third in the race, polling 29,054 votes, 54,321 less than Sethupathy R.

Tiruppattur reported a voter turnout of 80.78 per cent in the 2026 elections.

In the 2021 Assembly elections, Periyakaruppan won the Tiruppattur seat, defeating Marudhu Alaguraj of AIADMK by a margin of 37,374 votes.

Vijay, the next CM of Tamil Nadu?

Actor Vijay is likely to take oath as the state's new Chief Minister on 7 May. The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam chief on Tuesday wrote to Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlekar to formally stake his claim to form the government. Vijay will also meet the Governor and stake a claim to form the government on Wednesday, 6 May.

Vijay is said to have informed the Governor that the TVK had secured 108 seats, and being the single largest party, it should be invited to form the government. TVK is just 10 seats short of the majority mark of 118 in the 234-member Tamil Nadu legislature. It might seek support from Congress (5 MLAS) and other smaller parties to form the government.

Once sworn in, Vijay will be the first non-DMK-non-AIDMK chief minister of Tamil Nadu in about six decades.