Tamil Nadu Assembly Election Results 2026 | 1 family, 3 parties, 3 wins: 'Lottery King' Santiago Martin's clan win in TN, Puducherry

The Tamil Nadu election results sprung a surprise as Joseph Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) emerged as the single largest party with 108 seats.

While, Vijay grabbed headlines, another anomaly was three members from a single family won from three different parties.

Family members of Santiago Martin, popularly known as "Lottery King", won an entry in into the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assemblies.

Martin's son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna Reddy is one of the most trusted men of Vijay and is a key part of the TVK. He contested from the Villivakkam constituency and secured a comfortable win with a margin of 17,302 votes. Arjuna is married to Daisy Martin, Santiago Martin’s daughter. He's also the general secretary of the party.

Further, Martin's wife Leema Rose Martin, also won with a slender margin of 2,500 votes. She contested on an All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) ticket and faced a tight battle against both TVK and DMK in the Lalgudi constituency.

This is a massive win considering Lalgudi is a bastion of the DMK. It won the seat in the 2021, 2016, 2011 and 2006 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.

In Puducherry, Martin's son, Jose Charles Martin, established his own party, the Latchiya Jananayaka Katchi party, in December last year. The party contested in two constituencies with Jose Charles winning a seat. The party, part of the NDA, will be a part of the ruling government.

Jose Charles secured a big win by 10,205 votes in the Kamaraj Nagar assembly constituency.

While Rose, Charles, and Arjuna have been part of Indiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK) run by Tamil billionaire Pariventhar, BJP, and Dalit party VCK, respectively, in the past, this is the first time they contested elections.

Martin is a an OBC Christian and had befriended influential leaders in almost all political parties in the states where his firms operate. In Tamil Nadu, he was closely associated with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and in Kerala, he had a good rapport with the Left Democratic Front (LDF).

Martin had also produced a film whose script writer was late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi. However, his donation of Rs 2 crore to Deshabimani, the CPI(M) mouthpiece in Kerala, met with opposition from within the party, forcing the then Left leadership to return the amount.