Why Tamil Nadu has by-elections in October 2026 — Madurantakam and Dharapuram
Why Madurantakam and Dharapuram vote again five months after the April 2026 election: the AIADMK MLAs who joined TVK, the ECI schedule and what the result means.
TVK won 108 of 234 seats in the April 2026 election (polling 23 April, counting 4 May, 85.1% turnout). C. Joseph Vijay was sworn in as Chief Minister on 10 May 2026 with outside support from Congress, CPI, CPI(M), VCK and IUML. M.K. Stalin lost Kolathur to TVK's V.S. Babu by 9,122 votes; Udhayanidhi Stalin became Leader of the Opposition on 11 May 2026. Six AIADMK MLAs then resigned and joined TVK. Two of them, K. Maragatham Kumaravel (Madurantakam) and P. Sathyabama (Dharapuram), resigned on 25 May 2026 and are contesting the same seats as TVK candidates.
That last move is why Tamil Nadu is voting again only five months after the general election. Under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, a legislator who leaves the party they were elected on is open to disqualification. Resigning the seat first avoids that fight, but it leaves the constituency without an MLA, and the Election Commission must fill the vacancy with a by-election.
The Election Commission announced the October round on 7 September 2026 (Press Note ECI/PN/114/2026). Nominations closed on 16 September, scrutiny was on 17 September and withdrawals on 19 September. Campaigning ended at 6 PM on 4 October, polling ran from 7 AM to 6 PM on 6 October, and counting starts at 8 AM IST on Friday 9 October 2026. The whole process must be complete by 11 October.
Madurantakam (SC, AC 35, Chengalpattu district) recorded 86.19% turnout with 27 candidates. Dharapuram (SC, AC 101, Tiruppur district) recorded 80.30% with 22 candidates. Both figures are below April's 93.36% and 89.96%, which is normal for a by-election that cannot change who governs.
Why do these two seats matter if TVK's government does not depend on them? They are the first electoral test of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, the first test of whether AIADMK voters follow their former MLAs into TVK, and the first test of the DMK under Udhayanidhi Stalin as Leader of the Opposition. Thattanchavady (Puducherry), Nandigram and Rejinagar (West Bengal) assembly seats and Nagaon (Assam) Lok Sabha seat also count on 9 October 2026.
Five more Tamil Nadu seats are waiting: Tiruchirappalli East, Ambasamudram, Viralimalai, Karur, Perundurai. Their dates have not been announced; see the pending-seats page for the deadlines.