The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam has made a splashy electoral debut — taking an early lead in more than 100 seats as votes were counted on Monday morning. The party led by actor-politician Vijay contested all 234 seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly and offered voters a third alternative to the longstanding DMK and AIADMK blocs.
About two hours after the postal ballots were counted and EVMs opened for multi-round counting, Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam surged ahead of its Dravidian rivals– the DMK and the AIADMK. The ruling party is now struggling to catch up, and the AIADMK is a distant second before the TVK. Vijay will very likely ensure the biggest electoral upset in recent years if the trends maintain — something in lines with the “1967,1977” wins he had cited in campaign speeches.
What does the Election Commission data show?
Data from the Election Commission indicated that 111 of its candidates were ahead at 11:30 am. The party is now close to the majority mark of 118 — with the AIADMK currently leading on 60 seats, while the ruling DMK is a distant third with a lead in 41 constituencies.
Details shared by the poll body indicate that party supremo Vijay is leading from both the Tiruchirappalli East and Perambur seats. He secured 6469 votes during the first round of counting (out of 22) to establish a margin of 2990 in the Perambur constituency. He also garnered 12523 votes in the Trichy East seat after three rounds of counting — a 5286 vote lead over the trailing candidate.
What has the party said?
TVK national spokesperson Felix Gerald told PTI on Monday that his party would form the government in Tamil Nadu with an absolute majority. He added that the people of the state were choosing TVK because they were “fed up” with established parties.
“They may have experience of 50 or 75 years, but they have got experience only in looting the state…They (DMK) were closing their eyes and running in a dark room. Now they will understand the world they live in,” Gerald said.
He also addressed the continued discussion about Vijay’s limited media presence during the campaign. Gerald noted that the leader prefers “talking directly to the people” rather than through the media. He dismissed previous criticisms and media narratives that suggested the party would struggle to win even a single seat, pointing to the high voter turnout as evidence of public support.