Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026 | Key battles to watch out for: Vijay raises the bar in Perambur by challenging DMK in their bastion

Vijay’s move to challenge DMK in its bastion is gutsy since no leader, be it J Jayalalithaa or M G Ramachandran, chose to contest from Chennai in their formative years.

Perambur in the heart of Chennai has been a DMK stronghold with the party winning nine of the 16 general elections held since 1952. The CPI (M) has won three times and the AIADMK twice from the urban seat which has a mix of Christians, Muslims, and Dalits. 

This election, the constituency has attained star status with Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) chief and actor C Joseph Vijay choosing the seat for his electoral debut.

Vijay’s move to challenge the DMK in its bastion is gutsy since no leader, be it J Jayalalithaa or M G Ramachandran, chose to contest from Chennai in their formative years. A defeat at the hands of Vijay could significantly erode the DMK’s claim of Chennai being its citadel. 

Candidate’s profile: 

TVK: One of the highest-paid film stars in the country, Vijay, as he is popularly known, worked quietly for about a decade through his Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (VMI) before taking the formal plunge into politics. Over 100 members of the VMI are now councillors in various parts of the state, having won as independent candidates. 

Over three decades, Vijay has grown into a mass entertainer, and a money-spinner for his producers, while building an empire of fans who ruled Tamil social media for long. He launched the TVK in February 2024, but stayed away from the Lok Sabha elections that year to focus completely on the Assembly elections. 

DMK: R D Shekar won from Perambur for the first time in the 2019 by-polls and was re-elected in the 2021 general elections. He is a resident of Perambur and a powerful district secretary of the DMK in north Chennai. A law graduate, Shekar rose from the ranks within the DMK to be appointed as a district secretary. 

PMK: Thilaga Bama is a multi-faceted personality. He is an author, and a politician and who has been associated with the PMK for a long time. Thilaga Bama has written over a dozen books and is also an activist. She lost all elections she contested since 2019 from Dindigul and Athur (2021). This time, the PMK has fielded her from Perambur, which has a sizeable population of Vanniyars, who form the core support base of the party.