Tamil Nadu’s 17th Assembly election for all 234 constituencies concluded on April 23. While the main contest is seen between the DMK and AIADMK alliances, actor Vijay’s newly launched Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) is making its electoral debut.
Vijay is contesting from two seats—Chennai’s Perambur and Tiruchirappalli East—without an alliance. The contest has revived comparisons with earlier film stars who entered politics after MGR, including Vijayakanth and Kamal Haasan.
In the 1977 Assembly election, MGR—after forming the AIADMK—contested from Aruppukottai and secured 43,065 votes, a 56.23% vote share, defeating the Janata Party candidate Muthuvel Servai (13,687 votes). In 2006, Vijayakanth, contesting from Vriddhachalam in his party’s first election, polled 61,337 votes with a 40.4% vote share; PMK’s Govindasamy received 47,560 votes.
In 2021, Kamal Haasan contested Coimbatore South and secured 51,481 votes with a 33.26% vote share, but lost to BJP candidate Vanathi Srinivasan by 1,728 votes.
For 2026, Perambur has 222,792 voters and Tiruchirappalli East has 217,397. In 2021, DMK candidates won those seats with 101,330 votes (Perambur) and 101,730 votes (Tiruchirappalli East). Political observers say Vijay’s performance—and whether he can surpass the vote shares of MGR (56.23%), Vijayakanth (40.4%) and Kamal Haasan (33.26%)—will become clear when results are announced on May 4.
