Man flies from Muscat to vote for TVK, single ballot unseats DMK minister
One voter travelled from Muscat to cast her vote for TVK in Tiruppattur, where DMK minister KR Periyakaruppan lost by a single vote as the party surged.
by Ajmal Abbas · India TodayIn Short
- DMK minister KR Periyakaruppan lost Tiruppattur by one vote
- Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam's Seenivasa Sethupathy won the seat
- A voter travelled from Muscat to cast a decisive ballot
One of the notable casualties of Vijay’s electoral onslaught in Tamil Nadu was DMK minister KR Periyakaruppan, who lost the Tiruppattur Assembly seat by a margin of just one vote to Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). Adding a striking dimension to the outcome, a voter travelled from Muscat solely to cast her ballot for TVK, an effort that has now proved decisive.
Manikandan Sivanantham, a voter from the constituency in Sivaganga district, shared on social media, “I’m proud that I travelled all the way from Muscat to India to cast my vote,” citing the one-vote margin and suggesting that his ballot may have been among those that ultimately determined the result.
Periyakaruppan, who served as Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Co-operatives, was defeated by Seenivasa Sethupathy R of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. According to final figures, Sethupathy secured 83,375 votes, edging past the DMK leader by a solitary vote after the completion of counting.
As Tamil Nadu counted its Assembly election votes on Monday, Vijay's TVK created a record of sorts in the electoral history of Tamil Nadu and emerged as the single largest party by delivering a shock defeat to incumbent DMK, while the AIADMK was pushed to a distant third spot.
In the TVK's emergence, perhaps thekolathur-as-vijays-tvk-rises-in-state-2906383-2026-05-04" target="_self"> biggest shock was for Chief Minister MK Stalin, who was defeated by a margin of 8,795 votes in his Kolathur constituency by little-known VS Babu, the TVK candidate who was formerly with the DMK and an ex-MLA.
Apart from Periyakaruppan, more than 10 ministers, including Geetha Jeevan and Ma Subramanian were also defeated.
The TVK, launched in February 2024, has secured nearly 35 per cent vote share in its debut election.
With Vijay’s party falling just short of the majority mark, intense talks to form a coalition have already begun. Observers expect smaller parties such as Congress (5), IUML (2), Left parties (4), VCK (2) and PMK (5) to extend support and seek a share in power. Together, these parties have won or are leading in a total of 18 seats. TVK needs 118 seats to form the government.
While DMK secured 59 seats, AIADMK, part of the NDA, won 47 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly.
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