Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, has won the Dharapuram Assembly bypoll and holds a strong lead in Madurantakam.
TVK candidate P Sathyabama was declared the winner from the Dharapuram SC constituency after securing 66,841 votes, defeating DMK’s Suganya by a margin of 9,471 votes. The victory marks a significant milestone for Vijay’s newly established political outfit, triggering an immediate political war of words with the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
DMK president M.K. Stalin slammed the outcome as a “blatant murder of democracy” and an “interim victory for betrayal,” claiming the “downfall of fake image politics” had begun. In response, Vijay targeted the DMK over controversial remarks made during the campaign—specifically Stalin referring to Sathyabama as “Petti Bama”—framing the election outcome as a decisive public rejection of derogatory speech targeting women.
While TVK leads in Madurantakam at round 21 of 27, the results highlight a shifting political landscape in Tamil Nadu.
