In the most stunning upset of the Tamil Nadu Assembly Election 2026, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam's V. S. Babu has defeated sitting Chief Minister and DMK supremo MK Stalin in his own fortress of Kolathur — a result that has sent shockwaves through Tamil Nadu politics and underlined just how dramatically the state's political landscape has been reshaped by actor-turned-politician Thalapathy Vijay's party.
With 20 out of 22 rounds of counting completed, Babu was leading with 80,835 votes, building a commanding margin of 8,517 votes over Stalin, who was trailing at 72,318 votes. AIADMK's P. Santhana Krishnan was a distant third with 18,054 votes, nearly 62,781 votes behind the leader.
Kolathur is Stalin's safe seat, where he had won three consecutive terms in 2011, 2016, and 2021.
In 2021, he had won the constituency by more than 70,000 votes against Aadi Rajaram of the AIADMK — making his defeat in 2026 all the more staggering.
Voter turnout in the constituency surged to 86.12 per cent this year, compared to 61.68 per cent in 2021, a sharp rise that in hindsight appears to have worked decisively against the incumbent.
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The constituency has been a stronghold for Stalin, who has won from Kolathur in three consecutive Assembly elections — 2011, 2016, and 2021. It is a general category seat located in the Chennai district and part of the Chennai North Lok Sabha constituency. He has served as Chennai Mayor, Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister, and has been elected to the state assembly eight times, also leading the DMK youth wing for over 40 years.
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The loss is not just personal but deeply symbolic — the Chief Minister of a state losing his own seat is a rare and seismic political event. The result adds a dramatic personal dimension to what is already a historic election in Tamil Nadu, with TVK leading in over 100 seats across the state, signalling a sweeping new chapter in the state's politics.
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