Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026 | Battle for Coimbatore: Balaji and Velumani fight it out

Chennai: For the DMK, cracking the Kongu or western region, especially this Manchester of South India, has proved tough in the past 15 years. So much so that the DMK lost all 10 assembly seats in Coimbatore in the 2021 elections to the AIADMK-BJP when the party swept every other region in the state and made a dramatic comeback after a decade.

That is when the DMK leadership’s eyes fell on V Senthil Balaji, who jumped ship from the AIADMK-AMMK in 2018, as he delivered all four assembly seats in his home district of Karur.

He was immediately made in-charge minister for Coimbatore following which he delivered the Coimbatore Corporation for the party and was later appointed the party’s in-charge for the western region to revise the DMK’s fortunes.

Balaji, who belongs to the entrepreneurial Gounder community spread across the region, became the DMK’s face – the party’s top brass realised that it had failed to nurture strong local leadership after C T Dhandapani and Pongalur Palanisamy. Despite Balaji facing charges in a cash-for-jobs scam during his tenure as a minister in the 2011-2016 AIADMK tenure, he remains one of Chief Minister M K Stalin’s key aides for his groundwork and delivering results.

This April 23 election, Balaji is taking on the formidable AIADMK-BJP in its bastion from the Coimbatore (South) constituency. He has shifted from his native constituency of Karur, where a deadly stampede at a TVK rally killed 41 people – the DMK MLA was recently questioned by the CBI in this regard.

Balaji versus Velumani

The fight has now turned into a prestige battle between Balaji and S P Velumani, the AIADMK strongman. Both are known for their strong organisational skills, groundwork, and maintaining excellent relationships with functionaries and party cadres.

While the DMK is sweating it out to reverse its 2021 setback – the party did win the Lok Sabha polls in a three-cornered contest – with Balaji criss-crossing the entire district and not being confined to his seat, the AIADMK is under pressure to defend its long-held bastion.

In most constituencies, the battle is likely to narrow down to the AIADMK and DMK as the election nears, even as the TVK candidates are expected to make inroads, but they may need a push in the form of a campaign by Vijay to tilt votes in their favour and gain the needed momentum on polling day.

‘We will reverse 2021 results’

On the campaign trail, Senthil Balaji dismissed the perception that Coimbatore was the AIADMK’s bastion.

“Who said so? Even in the last election, the AIADMK won many seats only by a slender margin. We have plugged in the gaps this time and worked on the ground to reverse the trend. We will be successful this time. As the in-charge minister, I have worked here for the past five years,” Senthil Balaji told DH.

“How many seats will you win?” “All 10 seats. That is what we are working for,” he added.

As for the DMK candidates, Balaji’s seal is visible all over with several new faces, and ally Congress also fielding new candidates in Singanallur and Kavundampalayam. AIADMK has fielded its heavy weights while the BJP shifted its women’s wing chief Vanathi Srinivasan from Coimbatore South to North.

The general perception in Coimbatore is that the AIADMK remains strong, but will not be able to repeat its 10/10 performance this election with the DMK pushing back with strong groundwork and taking its welfare schemes, especially those targeted at women, to the people.

“AIADMK still has a lot of support in Coimbatore, courtesy Velumani who is accessible to the people. But in the last five years, the DMK has also reached out to the people and this time, the electoral battle will be tough and difficult to predict,” Aakash, a software professional, told DH.

What the DMK hopes?

The ruling party is also flaunting infrastructure works like completing the G D Naidu flyover which was started under the AIADMK regime, smart city projects, a brand-new Semmozhi Poonga, a swanky library, and an under-construction stadium.

However, the residents want basic infrastructure needs to be fulfilled like proper interior roads and timely disposal of solid waste management.

“Coimbatore needs to create more special engineering jobs and the city should have industrial hubs across sectors. Coimbatore has a lot of potential to grow and the next government should focus on bringing more start-ups,” an entrepreneur told DH on the condition of anonymity.

AIADMK and Velumani

As for the AIADMK is concerned, the party looks comfortable in rural seats like Sulur, Kinathukadavu, Kavundampalayam, Mettupalayam and Thondamuthur, from where Velumani is seeking re-election.

Velumani is also a grassroots worker who has ears to the ground and is popular in the city for building several flyovers during the previous AIADMK regime. However, the fight in Pollachi, Singanallur, and Valparai, may go down to the wire, with the DMK upping its stakes in Coimbatore North and South.

In the core city area, the DMK is banking on the significant Muslim population and the women vote bank to romp home unless a significant section gravitates towards the TVK – in the South constituency where Balaji is contesting from, the Muslim population is a significant 30 per cent.

For the DMK, the weakest link could be Singanallur and Kavundampalayam where the Congress is contesting but party functionaries told DH that efforts are being taken to strengthen the ground presence. As the in-charge of Coimbatore district, Balaji has been campaigning across western districts and is likely to travel to remaining nine assembly constituencies in Coimbatore district to campaign for candidates and assess the ground.