2026 TN elections | TVK's 1 vote win Tirupattur; nail-biting finish in many segments

CHENNAI: As if taken from the one-liner of Vijay's movie Sarkar, a TVK candidate snatched victory by one vote in Tiruppattur constituency in Sivagangai district, defeating DMK biggie KR Periyakaruppan.

That's not an isolated case. Many of the polls battled to a tight finish with a few hundred-vote difference in many constituencies.

Six TVK candidates lost by margins of less than 1,000 votes in closely fought contests against rivals from the DMK and the AIADMK.

TVK candidates, however, also registered narrow wins. Vinoth (Kumbakonam) won by 679 votes, Jeganathmishra PLA (Cumbum) by 751 votes, and C Arul Vignesh (Kallakurichi) by 798 votes.

At the same time, several TVK candidates secured huge victory margins. ECR P Saravanan (Sholinganallur) won by 96,780 votes, while candidates such as MC Vijayprabhu (Madhavaram), R.Rameshkumar (Avadi), S Lakshmanan (Salem West) and A Prakasam (Poonamallee) recorded margins ranging between 96,000 and 72,000 votes.

The DMK also saw narrow wins. PS Srinivasan (Veppanahalli) won by 138 votes against AIADMK leader KP Munusamy, while Suriyanur A Chandran won by 579 votes against a TVK candidate. In Kovilpatti, DMK candidate K Karunanithi defeated a TVK rival by 843 votes.

Several DMK leaders, including R Sakkarapani (Oddanchatram), R Vaithilingam (Orathanadu), M Manimaran (Thirumangalam), M Dhravidamani (Gudalur) and I Periyasamy (Athoor), registered comfortable victories with high margins.

Among AIADMK candidates, N Thalavaisundaram (Kanniyakumari), S Palanisamy (Tirukkoyilur), S Sekar (Paramathi-Velur), Ravi Manoharan (Palani) and P Haribaskar (Anthiyur) won by less than 1,000 votes.

Senior AIADMK leaders such as Edappadi K Palaniswami (Edappadi), R Vijayabaskar (Viralimalai), SM Sukumar (Arcot), R Kamaraj (Nannilam) and KP Anbalagan (Palacode) secured large victory margins ranging from 98,000 to 39,000 votes.

Meanwhile, a PMK candidate in Vikravandi won by 910 votes against a TVK rival, while the sole BJP victory in Udhagamandalam was by 976 votes.

The results underline the tight margins and intense multi-cornered contests that marked the election, with several constituencies witnessing nail-biting finishes.