Tirukkoyilur
Tirukkoyilur 285-vote thriller — AIADMK takes Sangam-era seat from DMK's Ponmudy
AIADMK's S. Palanisamy edged TVK's R. Vijay Baranibalaaji by just 285 votes in Tirukkoyilur — the fifth-tightest result anywhere in Tamil Nadu in 2026. The seat had been DMK senior leader K. Ponmudy's stronghold for two terms (winning by 41,057 in 2016 and 59,680 in 2021), but in 2026 both major Dravidian rivals were edged out as AIADMK and TVK split the anti-DMK vote almost evenly. The 2008-delimitation seat was redrawn from the older Mughaiyur and Rishivandhiyam constituencies, sitting in the heart of what was once the Sangam-era Malaiyaman dynasty's capital.
Top 5 candidates
| # | Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PALANISAMY S | AIADMK | 73,033 | 33.96% |
| 2 | VIJAY R BARANIBALAAJI | TVK | 72,748 | 33.83% |
| 3 | DR PON GAUTHAMSIGAMANI | DMK | 62,452 | 29.04% |
| 4 | HEMARAJAN K | NTK | 5,791 | 2.69% |
| 5 | RAMAKRISHNAN M | IND | 589 | 0.27% |
Postal ballot breakdown
Postal-ballot leader differs from overall winner. DMK DR PON GAUTHAMSIGAMANI led postal ballots (927), but AIADMK PALANISAMY S won the seat overall (73,033).
| # | Candidate | Party | Postal votes | EVM votes | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DR PON GAUTHAMSIGAMANI | DMK | 927 | 61,525 | 62,452 |
| 2 | PALANISAMY S | AIADMK | 686 | 72,347 | 73,033 |
| 3 | VIJAY R BARANIBALAAJI | TVK | 501 | 72,247 | 72,748 |
| 4 | HEMARAJAN K | NTK | 88 | 5,703 | 5,791 |
| 5 | TAMILSELVAM R | TVK | 9 | 303 | 312 |
Source: Election Commission of India · Form 20 data via results.eci.gov.in
How this seat compares
- Among the five tightest races in TN 2026 — AIADMK edged through by 285 votes.
Past results
Verified winners and runners-up across the last five elections, with the major alliance partners each side fielded.
Tirukkoyilur (AC 76) was reconstituted by the 2008 delimitation, merging the older Mughaiyur and Rishivandhiyam constituencies (both in undivided Villupuram). In 2006 those predecessors were won by V.A.T. Kaliyaperumal (PMK, in DMK-DPA alliance) and S. Sivaraj (INC, in DMK-DPA alliance) respectively — a 2006 'Tirukkoyilur' result is therefore not directly comparable. The 2011 winner L. Venkatesan ran for DMDK as a junior partner in the AIADMK-led alliance; the 2021 runner-up Kalivaradhan ran for BJP on the AIADMK ticket.
About Tirukkoyilur
Tirukkoyilur is an assembly constituency in Kallakurichi district (carved from Villupuram in 2019) and sits on the Then Pennaiyar (South Pennar) river. The 2008 delimitation reconstituted the seat by merging the older Mughaiyur and Rishivandhiyam constituencies. Long before it was a constituency, the town was the capital of Sangam-era Malaiyaman Tirumudikkari, one of the seven Vallalgal (great patrons) of the Sangam age, and is referenced in the poet Kapilar's verses on his patron Vel Pari.
Tirukkoyilur & the Sangam Country
Long before it was a constituency, Tirukkoyilur was Malainadu's capital under Malaiyaman Tirumudikkari, one of the seven great patrons of the Sangam age. Today the town stacks a 192-ft Divya Desam gopuram (Ulagalantha Perumal, where Vamana measured the universe in three steps), an Ashta Veeratta Shiva shrine, and Kapilar's death-rock into a single bend of the Then Pennai. Push west and the Kalrayan ghats open up at Manjavadi; push south and Aragalur's stapathi workshops are still chiselling granite the old way.
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