Bypoll results: Seeman’s NTK loses ground in Tamil Nadu and polls below NOTA in Puducherry as TVK sweeps both TN seats

Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) has suffered a heavy setback in the three Assembly bypolls whose results were declared on Friday, 9 October. The party polled fewer votes than in April’s Assembly election in both Tamil Nadu seats, lost its deposits there, and in Puducherry’s Thattanchavady got fewer votes than NOTA, ETV Bharat reported.

Chief Minister Vijay’s ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) won both Tamil Nadu seats, Madurantakam and Dharapuram, while the All India NR Congress held Thattanchavady.

Why the bypolls were held

The Tamil Nadu bypolls were held on 6 October after K. Maragatham Kumaravel (Madurantakam) and P. Sathyabama (Dharapuram), who had won as AIADMK MLAs in April, resigned and joined the TVK, according to ETV Bharat and All India Radio. Both then won their seats back on the TVK ticket. Thattanchavady fell vacant after Puducherry Chief Minister Rangasamy, who had won two seats, gave it up, Puthiyathalaimurai reported.

The results

• Madurantakam: Maragatham Kumaravel (TVK) beat I. Paranthaman (DMK) by about 20,000 votes. ETV Bharat put her tally at 74,048 and the margin at 20,040; All India Radio reported 73,801 votes and a slightly larger margin. AIADMK finished third.
• Dharapuram: P. Sathyabama (TVK) won with 66,841 votes, beating S. Suganya (DMK, 57,370) by 9,471 votes. AIADMK’s K. Bhanumathi was third with 45,280.
• Thattanchavady (Puducherry): Ashok Anand of the All India NR Congress won with 13,358 votes. Congress got 4,876 and the DMK 2,664, losing its deposit, Puthiyathalaimurai reported.

How NTK fared

ETV Bharat’s Tamil edition compared NTK’s bypoll tallies with its April results:

• Madurantakam: 2,709 votes, down from 4,950 in April, with the same candidate, Janakiraman
• Dharapuram: 5,268 votes for M. Karthika, down from 6,026 in April
• Thattanchavady: 172 votes for Karthik Kumari, behind NOTA’s 225, according to both ETV Bharat and Puthiyathalaimurai

NTK always contests alone, in general elections and bypolls alike. ETV Bharat noted that the party’s vote share had grown steadily from 1.1% in 2016 to 6.72% in 2021, earning it recognition as a state party, before falling sharply in the 2026 general election and now in these bypolls.

Seeman had campaigned for the party’s Dharapuram candidate, Puthiyathalaimurai reported. NTK had not issued a public response to the results in the reports The Daily Rostrum reviewed.

Sources: ETV Bharat Tamil, Puthiyathalaimurai, ETV Bharat, All India Radio.