With TVK going solo, TN poised for four-cornered contest in 2026
Voters of the state are no strangers to multi-cornered contests, which, in the recent elections, have largely helped the incumbent governments, unless the anti-incumbency wave is as high as a tsunami to surmount.
CHENNAI: After Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president Vijay’s proclamation that he would not have any truck with the ‘divisive’ BJP and he would lead the alliance, and considering NTK coordinator Seeman’s pronounced stand of going it alone, Tamil Nadu, in the current scenario, is most likely poised for a four-cornered contest in 2026.
Voters of the state are no strangers to multi-cornered contests, which, in the recent elections, have largely helped the incumbent governments, unless the anti-incumbency wave is as high as a tsunami to surmount. It is common knowledge that the anti-incumbency votes would split in at least three different ways. However, one cannot deny that the arrival of newbie Vijay, who is also staking claim to the secular votes against the BJP, might also eat into the secular ‘minority’ votes of the DMK-led INDIA bloc which has been pocketing it en masse.
Nonetheless, Chief Minister MK Stalin’s DMK, armed with a formidable ‘winning’ alliance and three-way split in anti-incumbency votes besides riding on the wave of popularity contributed by the welfare schemes, senses an opportunity to rewrite history by forming consecutive governments, a feat even the iconic M Karunanidhi did not manage to achieve.
