P. Sathyabama has now won Dharapuram twice in five months. In April she took it for the AIADMK by 16,727 votes. On Friday she took it for TVK by 9,471.
In Madurantakam, K. Maragatham Kumaravel did the same and nearly tripled her margin: 7,194 for the AIADMK in April, 20,040 for TVK now.
The party they left came third in both seats.
Two seats, two defectors
Five months ago, on April 23, both of these seats voted AIADMK.
In Madurantakam (SC, Chengalpattu district), K. Maragatham Kumaravel of the AIADMK won by 7,194 votes (3.63%) over TVK, with the DMK a close third. It was her second straight win in the seat; she had also carried it for the AIADMK in 2021.
In Dharapuram (SC, Tiruppur district), P. Sathyabama of the AIADMK won by 16,727 votes (8.37%) over the DMK. TVK finished third.
| Seat | Winner | Runner-up | Third | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madurantakam | AIADMK 34.95% | TVK 31.32% | DMK 30.18% | 7,194 (3.63%) |
| Dharapuram | AIADMK 40.56% | DMK 32.20% | TVK 23.23% | 16,727 (8.37%) |
On May 25, both MLAs resigned their seats and joined TVK, the party that had just formed the government with 108 of 234 seats. TVK then gave each of them a ticket to fight their own seat again, this time on its symbol.
So the bypolls asked a question that Tamil Nadu politics argues about every time a legislator changes sides. When an MLA moves, does the vote move with her? Or does it belong to the party symbol she was elected on?
The AIADMK’s answer, made all through the campaign, was that voters had elected the two leaves, not the person. TVK’s answer was to put the same two people back on the ballot.
The line-ups
This was not a repeat of April. Three things changed.
The alliances moved. In April, the Congress, VCK, MDMK and IUML campaigned with the DMK. In October they campaigned for TVK, as part of what it calls the Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance. The CPI and CPI(M), which back the TVK government from outside, fielded their own candidates against it: P. Suganthi (CPI(M)) in Madurantakam and P. Lakshmanan (CPI) in Dharapuram. The PMK stayed out and backed no one.
The ballots got longer. Madurantakam had 27 candidates, Dharapuram 22. In April they had 9 each.
Fewer people voted. Turnout fell in both seats: from 93.22% to 86.26% in Madurantakam, and from 89.89% to 80.30% in Dharapuram. Fewer voters can mean a different electorate, which matters for everything below.
The count
Madurantakam was never close. Maragatham Kumaravel led from the first round, her lead grew in almost every round after, and the AIADMK ran third throughout. The count ran to 27 rounds and was complete by about 6:40 PM IST.
Dharapuram was. The AIADMK’s K. Banumathi led the first four rounds, the first of them by 5 votes. Sathyabama went ahead in round 5 and never fell behind. By round 11 the DMK’s S. Suganya had pushed the AIADMK into third, and over the last nine rounds the lead stayed between about 8,900 and 10,200. The last of 23 rounds was in by about 4 PM IST.
One small exception ran the other way: the DMK led the postal ballots in both seats, with TVK third on them. Postal votes were under 1% of the total in each seat.
Madurantakam
| # | Candidate | Party | Votes | Share | Postal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | K. Maragatham Kumaravel | TVK | 74,048 | 39.96% | 137 |
| 2 | I. Paranthamen | DMK | 54,008 | 29.15% | 358 |
| 3 | S. Kanitha Sampath | AIADMK | 47,450 | 25.61% | 322 |
| 4 | G. Janakiraman | NTK | 2,709 | 1.46% | 0 |
| 5 | P. Suganthi | CPI(M) | 1,986 | 1.07% | 9 |
| 22 others | 4,439 | 2.40% | |||
| NOTA | 652 | 0.35% | 0 | ||
| Total | 1,85,292 | 864 |
Dharapuram
| # | Candidate | Party | Votes | Share | Postal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P. Sathyabama | TVK | 66,841 | 37.02% | 255 |
| 2 | S. Suganya | DMK | 57,370 | 31.78% | 613 |
| 3 | K. Banumathi | AIADMK | 45,280 | 25.08% | 406 |
| 4 | M. Karthika | NTK | 5,268 | 2.92% | 19 |
| 5 | P. Lakshmanan | CPI | 1,157 | 0.64% | 7 |
| 17 others | 3,939 | 2.18% | |||
| NOTA | 677 | 0.38% | 3 | ||
| Total | 1,80,532 | 1,316 |
Over three elections, the two seats now read like this:
| Seat | 2021 | April 2026 | October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Madurantakam | AIADMK by 3,570 (1.92%) | AIADMK by 7,194 (3.63%) | TVK by 20,040 (10.82%) |
| Dharapuram | DMK by 1,393 (0.72%) | AIADMK by 16,727 (8.37%) | TVK by 9,471 (5.25%) |
Did the vote follow the MLA?
Here is the cleanest way to look at it. If the two MLAs had carried their AIADMK voters with them into TVK, TVK’s share in October would sit near TVK’s April share plus the AIADMK’s April share. In Madurantakam that sum is 66.27%. In Dharapuram it is 63.79%.
TVK’s actual October share was 39.96% in Madurantakam and 37.02% in Dharapuram.
Part of it did. TVK’s share rose by 8.64 points in Madurantakam and 13.79 in Dharapuram, close to what the AIADMK lost (9.34 and 15.48). The DMK barely moved, down about a point in Madurantakam and half a point in Dharapuram, even though the Congress, VCK, MDMK and IUML that campaigned for it in April were on TVK’s side this time.
But most of the AIADMK’s April vote did not land on TVK. Had all of it followed the MLAs, TVK would have been somewhere near 66% and 64%. It got 40% and 37%. In raw votes, the AIADMK kept 47,450 of its 69,284 in Madurantakam and 45,280 of its 81,100 in Dharapuram. In both seats TVK’s gain was a little over half of the AIADMK’s loss, and fewer people voted overall.
The AIADMK held about a quarter of the vote in each seat. That quarter is the part of its vote that stayed with the symbol when the MLA left.
Shares can hide what happened to raw votes when fewer people turn out, so the tables give both.
Madurantakam, April against October
| Party | April | October | Votes change | Share change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TVK | 62,090 (31.32%) | 74,048 (39.96%) | +11,958 | +8.64 pts |
| AIADMK | 69,284 (34.95%) | 47,450 (25.61%) | -21,834 | -9.34 pts |
| DMK | 59,838 (30.18%) | 54,008 (29.15%) | -5,830 | -1.03 pts |
| NTK | 4,950 (2.50%) | 2,709 (1.46%) | -2,241 | -1.04 pts |
| Left | 0 (0.00%) | 1,986 (1.07%) | +1,986 | +1.07 pts |
| Others | 1,292 (0.65%) | 4,439 (2.40%) | +3,147 | +1.75 pts |
| NOTA | 797 (0.40%) | 652 (0.35%) | -145 | -0.05 pts |
| All votes | 1,98,251 | 1,85,292 | -12,959 |
Dharapuram, April against October
| Party | April | October | Votes change | Share change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TVK | 46,438 (23.23%) | 66,841 (37.02%) | +20,403 | +13.79 pts |
| AIADMK | 81,100 (40.56%) | 45,280 (25.08%) | -35,820 | -15.48 pts |
| DMK | 64,373 (32.20%) | 57,370 (31.78%) | -7,003 | -0.42 pts |
| NTK | 6,026 (3.01%) | 5,268 (2.92%) | -758 | -0.09 pts |
| Left | 0 (0.00%) | 1,157 (0.64%) | +1,157 | +0.64 pts |
| Others | 949 (0.47%) | 3,939 (2.18%) | +2,990 | +1.71 pts |
| NOTA | 1,058 (0.53%) | 677 (0.38%) | -381 | -0.15 pts |
| All votes | 1,99,944 | 1,80,532 | -19,412 |
Namesakes on the ballot
This series has spent a lot of time on dummy candidates, the independents who share a name with a main contender. The October ballots had them too.
| Seat | Independent | Shares a name with | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dharapuram | C. Banumathi | K. Banumathi (AIADMK) | 250 | 0.14% |
| Dharapuram | M. Sathyabama | P. Sathyabama (TVK) | 102 | 0.06% |
Neither shared a name with the runner-up, and together they drew 352 votes against a margin of 9,471. They decided nothing.
What it says about the other vacancies
Five seats in the Assembly are still vacant, including Tiruchirappalli East, which C. Joseph Vijay gave up after winning two seats in April. By one tracker’s count (tnelections2026.in), four of the five were left by AIADMK MLAs who moved to TVK. No dates have been set for any of them.
Two results are a small sample, and both were reserved seats with the defecting MLA herself on the ballot. What they show is narrower than a trend. In these two seats, an MLA who switched to TVK kept enough of her vote to win, the DMK held its ground without its April allies, and the AIADMK, on its own, held about a quarter. They do not show that every defector can do the same.
The MLAs changed parties. Their seats went with them.
Source: Election Commission of India. Analysis and any errors are mine.