Thirumangalam
Thirumangalam — DMK's Manimaran ends Udhayakumar's AIADMK hold near Madurai airport, by 23,807 votes
DMK's M. Manimaran took Thirumangalam by 23,807 votes over R. B. Udhayakumar — Edappadi K. Palaniswami's Revenue Minister through the 2016-21 AIADMK government — ending Udhayakumar's two-cycle hold on the seat near Madurai airport. Manimaran had been the AIADMK-era runner-up here in both 2011 (lost to AIADMK's M. Muthuramalingam by 26,367) and 2021 (lost to Udhayakumar by 14,087); the 2026 win on his third attempt is one of the cycle's notable persistence-rewarded stories. Udhayakumar, a senior AIADMK figure who held the Revenue portfolio under EPS, had won here in 2016 by 23,590 and held in 2021 by 14,087 — so the 2026 reversal is also a sharp loss for the AIADMK old guard.
Top 5 candidates
| # | Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MANIMARAN.M | DMK | 88,291 | 38.83% |
| 2 | UDHAYAKUMAR.R.B | AIADMK | 64,484 | 28.36% |
| 3 | SATHISHKUMAR.N | TVK | 60,826 | 26.75% |
| 4 | MUNISH.N | NTK | 11,139 | 4.90% |
| 5 | JEEVITHA NACHIYAR.B | IND | 2,851 | 1.25% |
Postal ballot breakdown
| # | Candidate | Party | Postal votes | EVM votes | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MANIMARAN.M | DMK | 1,228 | 87,063 | 88,291 |
| 2 | SATHISHKUMAR.N | TVK | 1,126 | 59,700 | 60,826 |
| 3 | UDHAYAKUMAR.R.B | AIADMK | 832 | 63,652 | 64,484 |
| 4 | MUNISH.N | NTK | 388 | 10,751 | 11,139 |
| 5 | JEEVITHA NACHIYAR.B | AIPTMM | 101 | 2,750 | 2,851 |
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.
M. Manimaran's 2026 win is his first after losing the same seat to AIADMK twice — to Muthuramalingam in 2011 and to Udhayakumar in 2021. The 2016 row carries a dual pill — INC's R. Jeyaram contested as the DMK alliance partner. R. B. Udhayakumar was Revenue Minister under EPS through the 2016-21 AIADMK government; the 2026 result also reads as a generational reset for the seat's AIADMK leadership.
About Thirumangalam
Thirumangalam — AC 196 — sits on the south-western edge of Madurai district, ringing Madurai International Airport and the Vaigai delta's rice country. The constituency includes Thirumangalam town, a long-established trading and agricultural centre, and the rural belt that supplies Madurai city's wholesale markets. R. B. Udhayakumar — a long-serving AIADMK figure who served as Revenue Minister under Edappadi K. Palaniswami's 2017-2021 government — held this seat through 2016 and 2021. M. Manimaran, the 2026 winner on the DMK side, had been runner-up here in both 2011 and 2021 before the 2026 break-through.
Thirumangalam & Madurai's Southern Belt
Thirumangalam is Madurai's southern gateway — where the Vaigai's last green paddy stretch meets the airport's runways and the highways that bend south to Rameswaram and Kanyakumari. The town's old trade core still runs a busy weekly bazaar; ten minutes north sits Madurai International Airport's Sahasralingam-themed terminal, and an hour east the Pamban bridge crosses to Rameswaram's Ramanathaswamy temple — closing the loop on one of TN's most-trodden pilgrim corridors.
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