Dharapuram by-election 2026 — candidates, April result, history and counting day
Dharapuram (Tharapuram) SC by-election guide: candidates, April 2026 votes, 2016-2021 history, turnout and what to watch when counting starts on 9 October.
Dharapuram (also spelt Tharapuram) (SC) is Assembly Constituency No. 101 in Tiruppur district, Tamil Nadu, part of the Erode Lok Sabha constituency.
P. Sathyabama won the seat for AIADMK in April 2026, was MLA for 14 days, resigned on 25 May 2026 and joined TVK. TVK was third here in April with 23%. The Kongu belt is AIADMK's heartland, and both Stalin and EPS chose Dharapuram for their roadshows. This is the harder seat for TVK.
April 2026 result: P. Sathyabama (ADMK) 81,100 votes (40.56%), T. Indirani (DMK) 64,373 (32.20%), Gowri Chitra (TVK) 46,438 (23.23%), Dhivya (NTK) 6,026 (3.01%), NOTA 1,058 (0.53%). Margin 16,727. Turnout was 89.96%.
History: 2021 N. Kayalvizhi (DMK) by 1,393 over L. Murugan (BJP) 88,593; 2016 V.S. Kalimuthu (INC) by 10,017 over K. Ponnusamy (ADMK) 73,521. In 2021 the DMK held off BJP's L. Murugan by just 1,393 votes.
Main candidates on 6 October 2026: P. Sathyabama (TVK): April 2026 winner for AIADMK, born 1975, resigned 25 May 2026 to join TVK.; S. Suganya (DMK): Advocate, DMK women's wing functionary.; K. Bhanumathi (ADMK): Former Panchayat Union chairperson.; P. Lakshmanan (CPI): Left Front candidate.; M. Karthika (NTK): NTK polled 6,026 here in April 2026..
M.K. Stalin launched DMK's bypoll campaign here and held a roadshow in Amaravathi; Edappadi K. Palaniswami held an AIADMK roadshow; Vijay campaigned over four days across both seats. Turnout on polling day was 80.30% of 222,406 electors across 320 polling stations, so expect roughly 20 to 22 rounds of counting from 8 AM on Friday 9 October 2026.
How to read counting day here: postal ballots are counted first, then EVM rounds. Each round adds a few thousand votes, so an early lead of a few hundred can reverse. The live table shows every candidate's running total, the margin to the next candidate and the round number. For TVK, the benchmark is the 63.8% that AIADMK (40.56%) and TVK (23.23%) polled together in April; for DMK, it is the 32.20% it polled then.