Postal ballots are being counted first. Early trends show TVK leading in both Madurantakam and Dharapuram, with the DMK in second place and the AIADMK in third.
DMK counting agents arrived at the Dharapuram counting centre wearing scarves of the same colour. Police initially denied them entry, triggering a prolonged argument. They were subsequently allowed inside.
Counting agents are being allowed into the counting centre only after their QR codes are scanned and verified.
Mobile phones belonging to counting agents are being collected, tagged with tokens and kept in safe custody. Even police personnel are not permitted to carry mobile phones inside the counting centre.
CHENNAI: Counting of votes for the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly bypolls begins at 8 am on Friday (October 9), with the results set to be closely watched as an early test for the new TVK-led government. The seats recorded voter turnouts of 86.26% and 80.30%, respectively, with local issues ranging from transport and road safety in Madurantakam to water scarcity in Dharapuram.
Madurantakam is a Scheduled Caste-reserved Assembly constituency in Chengalpattu district, while Dharapuram in in Tiruppur district is reserved for the Scheduled Tribe community. Both seats fell vacant after sitting AIADMK MLAs K Maragatham and P Sathyabama resigned and joined actor-turned-Chief Minister Vijay’s TVK.
The bypolls have turned into a five-cornered contest involving TVK, DMK, AIADMK, the Left parties and NTK, with TVK’s Maragatham Kumaravel, DMK’s I Paranthamen, AIADMK’s S Kanitha Sampath, CPM’s Suganthi and NTK’s Janakiraman in Madurantakam. In Dharapuram, TVK’s P Sathyabama faces DMK’s S Suganya, AIADMK’s K Banumathi, CPI’s Lakshmanan and NTK’s Karthika.
A total of 27 candidates contested the Madurantakam by-election, while 22 candidates were in the fray in Dharapuram.
The two bypolls are the first electoral test for the TVK government since the April 23 Assembly elections, when it ended nearly six decades of alternating rule by the two Dravidian parties, making them a prestige battle for Chief Minister Vijay, who campaigned for four days. The bypolls were necessitated by the resignation of AIADMK MLAs K Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama, who joined TVK and have been renominated by the party.
The contests also reflect Tamil Nadu’s new political realignment. Congress, which won five seats, and VCK and IUML, which won two seats each in April, joined the TVK-led government, while CPI and CPM, which won two seats each, extended external support but stayed out of the Cabinet and the alliance, and are contesting against TVK in these bypolls.
The PMK, part of the AIADMK-led NDA, has stayed neutral, while NDA ally AMMK is backing AIADMK candidates in both constituencies. MDMK, which contested and won two seats as part of the DMK-led alliance, later ended its alliance with the DMK and joined the TVK-led Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance.
The bypoll results will also set the tone for five yet-to-be-announced bypolls — Tiruchy (East), Perundurai, Ambasamudram, Viralimalai and Karur — held up by election-related litigation. Tiruchy (East) fell vacant after Vijay resigned, while the other four were vacated by AIADMK MLAs who resigned and joined TVK.
For TVK, the results will indicate whether its post-election realignment is translating into electoral support. AIADMK will seek to reclaim the two seats it won in April, while the DMK will look to challenge the new ruling formation. The Left, meanwhile, is seeking to retain its independent political identity while continuing to support the TVK government from outside.
TVK is seeking both Madurantakam and Dharapuram seats to raise its strength to 109 in the 234-member House, just nine short of a simple majority (majority mark: 118).
- TVK: 108 → 107 — Vijay won two seats, Perambur and Tiruchy (East),and retained Perambur before vacating Tiruchy (East).
- DMK: 59 → 59
- AIADMK: 47 → 41 — six AIADMK MLAs resigned and subsequently joined TVK.
- Congress: 5 → 5
- PMK: 4 → 4
- CPI: 2 → 2
- CPI(M): 2 → 2
- VCK: 2 → 2
- IUML: 2 → 2
- AMMK: 1 → 1
- BJP: 1 → 1
- DMDK: 1 → 1
- Vacant: 0 → 7
• Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance (SSJVA): The ruling coalition is led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and includes the Congress, VCK, MDMK, and IUML; the CPI and CPI(M) are not part of the alliance but provide outside legislative support to the government.
• Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA): The principal opposition block is led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and is currently partnered with the DMDK.
• AIADMK-led Alliance: The third major political front brings together the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the PMK, and the AMMK.
In Madurantakam, Chief Minister completed a 45-km roadshow across more than 30 villages, stepping off his campaign vehicle to drive a tractor through agricultural fields, sip tea at roadside stalls, and talk with women working the fields. In Dharapuram, he travelled on a bullock cart through key junctions of the constituency to connect with local voters during his 40-km roadshow.
The dominant campaign discourse was the "horse-trading" charges levelled at TVK by the AIADMK and DMK, although Vijay rejected them, saying the then AIADMK MLAs could not stand the party leadership hobnobbing with its DMK counterpart. He even accused the two parties of plotting against his forming the government when it was short of a majority but emerged as the single largest party.
DMK president MK Stalin campaigned for a day in each constituency. His remarks about the physical appearance of TVK's Dharapuram candidate P Sathyabama drew criticism from political parties.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami was the sole campaigner for his party in both constituencies and directly targeted Vijay during his campaign. The party's campaign, however, was affected by internal dissent, with Palaniswami keeping senior leaders SP Velumani, P Thangamani and CVe Shanmugam away from the campaign.
During the campaign, Vijay projected himself as the political inheritor of the welfare legacy of former AIADMK chief ministers MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, while positioning TVK as the principal alternative to DMK. Victory in the bypolls would provide a political boost to the four-month-old TVK government and strengthen its claim to have consolidated its position after the Assembly election.
With farmers’ distress emerging as a major concern in the Dharapuram Assembly by-election, a bitter water-sharing dispute between the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) ayacut and Uppar Dam-dependent farmers has turned into a politically sensitive issue in the constituency.
While farmers dependent on Uppar Dam are demanding water to protect their crops amid drought-like conditions, PAP ayacut farmers are strongly opposing any diversion, contending that the storage in the Thirumoorthi reservoir is insufficient even to meet their own irrigation requirements.
ricultural landscape, with farmers estimating that coconut plantations cover nearly one lakh acres. Vegetable crops, drumstick and maize are also cultivated in the region.
With their plantations under stress, farmers say they are being forced to buy tanker water to keep the coconut trees alive. -- shorten
Madurantakam May 2026 Assembly election results:
AIADMK: 69,284 votes
TVK: 62,090 votes
DMK: 59,838 votes
Dharapuram May 2026 Assembly election results:
AIADMK: 81,100
TVK: 46,438
DMK: 64,373
Several voters DT Next spoke to in Madurantakam expressed little enthusiasm for the bypoll, with some questioning the need for another election and others undecided. Public transport emerged as a key concern, with passengers alleging difficulties boarding certain express buses, while a highway bus stop near Madurantakam Lake raises safety concerns as buses stop on the carriageway and passengers have to cross the busy NH.
Water and agriculture remain other major issues, with farmers flagging silt accumulation in the 2,400-acre Madurantakam Lake. The constituency’s proximity to Chennai and location along the NH corridor have also accelerated urbanisation around centres such as Melmaruvathur and Achcharapakkam.
Both constituencies share a largely rural polling network and a high proportion of women voters. Their electoral rolls have grown by a combined 2,103 voters in the past five months, with around 1,000 new voters added in each constituency. Women accounted for most of the new enrolments following the Special Intensive Revision.
Madurantakam is more than just a town people pass through on the way to Chennai. As the constituency went to its first-ever bypoll, DT Next travelled across the region to explore its history, political journey and key candidates, while speaking to residents about everyday concerns, including transport, healthcare, education and the Madurantakam lake.
Voter turnout in Assembly by-elections at the Madurantakam and Dharapuram constituencies on Tuesday was lower than the turnout in the April-May general elections in the two constituencies.
Madurantakam recorded 86.26% turnout as of 8.30 pm, 7% lower than that in the general elections, which saw 93.22% turnout.
The turnout in Dharapuram stood at 80.31% as of 8.30 pm, compared with 89.89% in the general election.