Thanjavur
Thanjavur — TVK takes the Chola capital by 16,955 votes, ends DMK hold
TVK's R. Vijaysaravanan won Thanjavur — Tamil Nadu's cultural bedrock and the medieval Chola capital — by 16,955 votes over DMK's S. Ramanathan. The seat is a swing constituency: DMK held it in 2006 (S. N. M. Ubayadullah), AIADMK in 2011 and 2016 (M. Rengasamy, including a November 2016 bypoll after the original May 2016 election was countermanded over a cash-for-votes scandal), DMK again in 2021 (T. K. G. Neelamegam, by a 47,149-vote margin), and now TVK. The constituency contains the UNESCO-listed Brihadeeshwara Temple, the Maratha Saraswati Mahal Library, and lies 15 km from Tiruvaiyaru — birthplace of Saint Thyagaraja and the home of Carnatic music's annual Aradhana.
Top 5 candidates
| # | Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R. VIJAYSARAVANAN | TVK | 87,705 | 44.81% |
| 2 | SHAN. RAMANATHAN | DMK | 70,750 | 36.14% |
| 3 | KARUPPU MURUGANANTHAM | BJP | 26,790 | 13.69% |
| 4 | N. KRISHNAKUMAR | NTK | 9,383 | 4.79% |
| 5 | NOTA | NOTA | 1,274 | 0.65% |
Postal ballot breakdown
Postal-ballot leader differs from overall winner. DMK SHAN. RAMANATHAN led postal ballots (1,411), but TVK R. VIJAYSARAVANAN won the seat overall (87,705).
| # | Candidate | Party | Postal votes | EVM votes | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SHAN. RAMANATHAN | DMK | 1,411 | 69,339 | 70,750 |
| 2 | R. VIJAYSARAVANAN | TVK | 831 | 86,874 | 87,705 |
| 3 | KARUPPU MURUGANANTHAM | BJP | 440 | 26,350 | 26,790 |
| 4 | N. KRISHNAKUMAR | NTK | 148 | 9,235 | 9,383 |
| 5 | NOTA | NOTA | 29 | 1,245 | 1,274 |
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.
The 2016 result is from the November 2016 bypoll — the original May 2016 election was countermanded by the Election Commission over a cash-for-votes scandal in this seat. M. Rengasamy and S. N. M. Ubayadullah were the two faces of the AIADMK–DMK rivalry here through three cycles before T. K. G. Neelamegam took the seat decisively in 2021. TVK's 2026 win is the first time a non-Dravidian-major party has carried Thanjavur in the post-2008-delimitation era.
About Thanjavur
Thanjavur is the cultural bedrock of Tamil Nadu — capital of the medieval Chola dynasty (mid-9th century to mid-13th century), home to Rajaraja Chola I's 1010 CE Brihadeeshwara Temple (UNESCO World Heritage Site), and later seat of the Thanjavur Maratha kings whose Saraswati Mahal Library is one of Asia's oldest. The Cauvery delta around Thanjavur city is Tamil Nadu's rice bowl. The constituency has been a swing seat through the 2008-delimitation era — DMK and AIADMK have alternated, and TVK's 2026 win is the first time a non-Dravidian-major party has carried the seat in this era.
Thanjavur
Thanjavur is Tamil Nadu's cultural bedrock — a city where Rajaraja Chola raised the granite vimana of the Big Temple in 1010 CE, where Maratha kings later filled the Saraswati Mahal with palm-leaf manuscripts, and where gold-leaf Tanjore paintings still glow in artisan lanes. Step out 15 km to Tiruvaiyaru for Saint Thyagaraja's January Aradhana, or 70 km north to Rajendra Chola's lost capital at Gangaikondacholapuram with the second of the Great Living Chola Temples.
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