Sivakasi, Virudhunagar district: Keerthana, the TVK candidate who created history by becoming the first woman MLA elected from the Sivakasi Assembly constituency, has been inducted into the state cabinet.
The Sivakasi constituency was formed in 1957 and has seen victories by multiple parties over the decades. In 2011, AIADMK’s K.T. Rajendrabhalaji won from the seat and became a minister, continuing in the cabinet after his 2016 re-election. In 2021, Congress candidate Ashokan, contesting as part of the DMK-led alliance, won the constituency.
In the recently concluded 2026 Assembly election, Keerthana defeated sitting MLA Ashokan and former minister Rajendrabhalaji to win the seat. TVK leader Vijay subsequently appointed the 29-year-old as a minister, and she took oath along with Chief Minister Vijay.
Keerthana studied M.Sc. Statistics at Puducherry University and has experience working with an election strategy training organisation. She previously worked as a political consultant in 2021 with Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC for the DMK, and later provided campaign advice in Andhra Pradesh and Goa. She is fluent in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and English.
Her family background includes her father Sampath, a farmer, and her mother Vijayalakshmi, a homemaker; her sister Dharani is married and lives in Theni district. Keerthana has also drawn attention earlier for a viral protest gesture in Virudhunagar related to the non-establishment of a dental college.
