In another surprising development from the Tamil Nadu Assembly Election Results 2026, Chief Minister M K Stalin found himself behind in his stronghold Kolathur constituency following the seventh round of vote counting, as per the official data from the Election Commission of India.
Stalin, who is looking for a second consecutive term, is lagging behind Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam's V.S. Babu by over 8019 votes, according to the latest data available on the Election Commission website. AIADMK's Santhana Krishnan is positioned in third place with 11,405 votes in favour.
The Kolathur seat has been held by Stalin, the president of DMK, since 2011. In 2021, he secured the seat with a considerable margin of over 70,000 votes over AIADMK's Aadhi Rajaram, who is now contesting in the Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constituency and currently leads against Stalin's son, Udhayanidhi Stalin.
According to the preliminary voting outcomes, TVK is taking the lead in 110 seats within the 234-member assembly, placing it significantly ahead of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led coalition, which is leading in roughly 48 seats.
Meanwhile, the opposition led by former chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami's All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)-led coalition is lagging behind, holding leads in about 59 seats. While its ally, PMK, is performing well in five.
The polls for the 234-seat Assembly took place in a single phase on April 23, achieving a voter participation rate of 85.1%, with nearly 4.8 million ballots cast. Vote counting is taking place at 62 locations, encompassing more than 75,000 ballot sites, all under stringent security measures.
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