Palacodu
Palacodu — K. P. Anbalagan takes a fifth straight term, AIADMK's largest hold by 39,042 votes
AIADMK's K. P. Anbalagan won Palacodu for the fifth consecutive time, by 39,042 votes over TVK's R. Gopi — extending his unbroken run from 2006 (4,844 margin), 2011 (43,213), 2016 (5,983) and 2021 (28,100 over DMK's P. K. Murugan). Palacodu is one of TN's rarest seats — the same MLA, same party, has now held it across five cycles spanning 20 years and three different chief ministers. Anbalagan, a Vanniyar-community senior leader, served as a higher-education minister in the AIADMK governments of 2011-16 and 2017-21. The seat is the granite-rich heart of Dharmapuri district's hilly western belt.
Top 5 candidates
| # | Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ANBALAGAN. K.P. | AIADMK | 1,02,807 | 46.21% |
| 2 | GOPI. R. | TVK | 63,765 | 28.66% |
| 3 | DR. DNV SENTHILKUMAR. S. | DMK | 50,043 | 22.49% |
| 4 | BOOPATHI. R. | NTK | 5,598 | 2.52% |
| 5 | NOTA | NOTA | 1,292 | 0.58% |
Postal ballot breakdown
| # | Candidate | Party | Postal votes | EVM votes | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ANBALAGAN. K.P. | AIADMK | 1,274 | 1,01,533 | 1,02,807 |
| 2 | DR. DNV SENTHILKUMAR. S. | DMK | 823 | 49,220 | 50,043 |
| 3 | GOPI. R. | TVK | 554 | 63,211 | 63,765 |
| 4 | BOOPATHI. R. | NTK | 106 | 5,492 | 5,598 |
| 5 | SENTHILKUMAR. K | IND | 7 | 109 | 116 |
Source: Election Commission of India · Form 20 data via results.eci.gov.in
Past results
Verified winners and runners-up across the last five elections, with the major alliance partners each side fielded.
K. P. Anbalagan has now won Palacodu in five consecutive elections — 2006, 2011, 2016, 2021, 2026 — one of the longest-unbroken MLA runs in TN's current legislature. His tightest contest was 2006 (4,844 votes against PMK's K. Mannan); his largest was 2011 (43,213 in the post-2G wave). The 2026 39,042-vote margin against TVK's R. Gopi is his second-largest from the seat.
About Palacodu
Palacodu — AC 57 — is the western, hilly belt of Dharmapuri district, set on the granite-rich slopes that run from the Pennaiyar valley up to the Karnataka border. The town gives its name to the Palacode pink granite quarried in the surrounding hills and exported worldwide. The constituency has been the personal fief of AIADMK's K. P. Anbalagan since the 2008 delimitation reorganisation — he has won every single contest from this seat (2006, 2011, 2016, 2021, 2026), making him one of the longest-unbroken MLAs in TN's current cohort. The Vanniyar-community vote and the AIADMK organisational base have been Anbalagan's twin pillars.
Palacodu
Palacodu is the granite hills west of Dharmapuri — a quieter cousin to the Hosur belt, where the Pennaiyar river cuts through low ranges and pink-granite blocks roll out to ports. The Theerthamalai hill temple (Shiva-Vatuka Bhairava, Pallava origins) draws devotees on Mahashivaratri, and the road south takes you to the Hogenakkal cataract on the Cauvery and east to Adhiyamankottai's pre-Pallava Chera-era fort. The Dharmapuri-Palacodu stretch is the unhurried alternative to the Hosur-Bengaluru highway.
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