TVK’s victory in Tamil Nadu polls: The rise of an apolitical polity

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. A man reads a poster praising the victory of actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam party president C. Joseph Vijay in Chennai on May 6, 2026. | Photo Credit: AFP Even though Tamil Nadu’s outgoing Chief Minister M. K. Stalin put on a brave face and said he would face both defeat and success with equanimity, his loss in the Kolathur constituency appears to have shaken him. As the leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), he campaigned across the State for his party, and had been confident that his own constituency was secure, having nurtured it like no other. He will go down in history as the fourth sitting Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu who has lost an election. Constituencies represented by a Chief Minister typically attain VIP status by default. Kolathur, however, became Mr. Stalin’s second home, as he made it a point to visit almost every week. The constituency saw the development of hospitals, schools, flyovers, playgrounds, and colleges, among other facilities. Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026 | Complete coverage Yet voters chose the candidate of the fledgling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), V. S. Babu, a former DMK leader and district secretary. Observers point to a shift in voting patterns among certain communities in the constituency, including Christians and Scheduled Castes, some of whom appeared to favour actor C. Joseph Vijay’s TVK. This trend was not confined to Kolathur. In several constituencies across the State with a significant Christian population — traditionally seen as supportive of the DMK due to its strong anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stance — there appeared to be a shift in preferences. The decline in vote share for the DMK and its allies in districts such as Kanniyakumari, which has a substantial Christian population, suggests the alliance may have lost ground among these voters. In Killiyur, Congress candidate Rajesh Kumar, who had won by a margin of over 50,000 votes in 2021, saw his victory margin shrink to just over 1,000 votes this time. Other constituencies in the district witnessed a similar trend. A comparable pattern appeared in Kolathur, where some voters seemed to favour Mr. Vijay over Mr. Stalin, despite the Chief Minister’s continued engagement with the community, including organising annual Christmas events and extending financial support to certain churches. Capitalising on changing Tamil voter mood How Vijay built a grassroots base even before launching TVK Some voters framed their preferences in identity terms, expressing a desire for greater representation in leadership. Beyond Kolathur, the DMK appeared to be struggling to connect with sections of ‘Generation Z’ or Gen-Z, whose political engagement tends to be more fluid and less tied to established party structures. Historically, the Dravidian movement has drawn significant strength from student mobilisation. In contrast, campus politics today appears far more subdued. Student unions are absent in many colleges, and even where they exist, they are often largely apolitical in character. The proliferation of engineering and professional colleges, along with a shift away from the humanities, has further contributed to the weakening of political engagement among students. For many students, the primary focus is on securing employment through campus placements, leaving limited space for sustained political involvement. The DMK leadership appears to be continuing to rely on an older political idiom, rooted in the rhetoric of the 1950s and 1960s, and often centred on emotive appeals, which may have limited resonance in today’s social media-driven campaign environment. T.N. Governor asks TVK chief Vijay to produce proof of support of majority MLAs; Congress says ‘yes’ but AIADMK ‘no’ Can't be called backstabbing, what's the issue if like-minded parties forming govt in Tamil Nadu: Congress Congress has adopted BJP’s shortcuts in Tamil Nadu, says T. R. Baalu Tamil Nadu government formation: DMK rejects overtures from AIADMK, sources say In contrast, Mr. Vijay’s campaign suggests that electoral success can, at least in certain contexts, be achieved without a

TVK’s victory in Tamil Nadu polls: The rise of an apolitical polity

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TVK’s victory in Tamil Nadu polls: The rise of an apolitical polity

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