Tenkasi
Tenkasi — DMK's Kalai Kathiravan holds 'Southern Kasi' seat by 10,299 votes
DMK's Dr Kalai Kathiravan held Tenkasi by 10,299 votes over AIADMK's S. Selva Mohandas Pandian — keeping the seat in the DMK alliance column it has held since 2021, when INC's S. Palani Nadar took it on the DMK ticket by an extraordinary 370-vote margin (the second-tightest margin of that entire cycle in TN). Tenkasi has been a knife-edge seat for two consecutive cycles before — Selva Mohandas Pandian himself won here for the AIADMK in 2016 by just 462 votes over Palani Nadar (INC, DMK alliance) — and the 2026 result of 10,299 is the seat's most decisive in over a decade. Actor R. Sarathkumar carried the seat in 2011 on the AIADMK alliance ticket (his AISMK contesting on the AIADMK two-leaves symbol).
Top 5 candidates
| # | Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DR.KALAI KATHIRAVAN | DMK | 79,699 | 34.33% |
| 2 | S.SELVA MOHANDAS PANDIAN | AIADMK | 69,400 | 29.89% |
| 3 | A. RAJAPRAKASH | TVK | 55,543 | 23.92% |
| 4 | P. PUSHPALATHA | NTK | 16,394 | 7.06% |
| 5 | M.POOSA DURAI | IND | 7,715 | 3.32% |
Postal ballot breakdown
| # | Candidate | Party | Postal votes | EVM votes | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DR.KALAI KATHIRAVAN | DMK | 1,164 | 78,535 | 79,699 |
| 2 | S.SELVA MOHANDAS PANDIAN | AIADMK | 774 | 68,626 | 69,400 |
| 3 | A. RAJAPRAKASH | TVK | 614 | 54,929 | 55,543 |
| 4 | P. PUSHPALATHA | NTK | 273 | 16,121 | 16,394 |
| 5 | M.POOSA DURAI | AIPTMM | 76 | 7,639 | 7,715 |
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.
Tenkasi's two prior cycles were among the tightest in TN — 462 votes in 2016 and 370 votes in 2021, between the same two candidates (Selvamohandas Pandian for AIADMK and Palani Nadar for INC on the DMK alliance ticket). The 2026 DMK margin of 10,299 finally breaks that knife-edge pattern. Actor R. Sarathkumar's 2011 win was on the AIADMK two-leaves symbol — his All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK) was contesting in the AIADMK alliance — hence the dual-pill rendering. The 2006 row is from the older pre-delimitation Tenkasi seat.
About Tenkasi
Tenkasi — AC 222 — is the headquarters constituency of the eponymous district, carved out of Tirunelveli in 2019. The town's name means 'Southern Kasi' (Varanasi of the south); its 14th-century Kasi Viswanathar Temple, raised by the Pandya kings to spare devotees the long trip to the original Kasi on the Ganges, anchors the old town. The seat sits at the foothills of the Western Ghats — Courtallam, the 'Spa of South India' with its nine waterfalls, is a 5 km drive away and pulls heavy crowds through the June-September monsoon-bath season. Tenkasi was a 462-vote and then 370-vote knife-edge seat for two consecutive cycles before the 2026 DMK margin opened up.
Tenkasi & Courtallam
Tenkasi is the 'Southern Kasi' — a Pandya-era Kasi Viswanathar shrine on the Western Ghats foothills, raised so devotees could earn the merit of Varanasi without the journey. Five kilometres west, Courtallam's nine waterfalls turn the June-September monsoon-bath season into one of TN's most-loved water holidays — the Main Falls, Five Falls, Old Courtallam and the high Honey Falls each draw their own daily pilgrim queue. Push west into the Ghats for Papanasam Dam and the wildlife reserves; this is the gateway to the Mundanthurai-Kalakad tiger country.
Plan your trip on TN Explorer →