<p>Chennai: Actor-politician Vijay’s 2018 flick <em>Sarkar</em> was all about the power of one vote. And on Monday, as Vijay inched closer to ascent the Chief Minister’s chair, the reel played out in real. </p><p>TVK candidate R Seenivasa Sethupathy defeated DMK minister K R Periakaruppan, a veteran politician, by one vote, in a dramatic turn of events. While Sethupathy polled 83,375 votes, Periakaruppan scored 83,374 votes. </p>.Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026 | How TVK's Vijay ended six decades of Dravidian duopoly .<p>The margin was so slender that Periakaruppan demanded a recount. After multiple rounds of re-counting of votes, the TVK candidate was declared the winner. </p><p>The scenes were reminiscent of the 2008 assembly elections in Rajasthan when Congress’ C P Joshi lost his seat by one vote. </p><p>As the TVK candidate emerged victorious by one vote, supporters of Vijay began talking about the power of a vote on social media. They said this was the reason why hundreds of youngsters travelled from different countries to Tamil Nadu to exercise their franchise. </p><p>And his fans connected the victory by a single vote to <em>Sarkar</em>. </p>.Assembly Elections 2026 | Who will be next CMs in Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry?.<p>The movie was all about the power of a vote – business magnate Sundar Ramasamy, the character played by Vijay, travels all the way from the US to vote in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, only to find his vote already been cast illegally. </p><p>Ramasamy takes the Election Commission of India (ECI) to the Supreme Court and gets his right to vote only to find lakhs of people coming out to say their votes were also cast illegally. This forces the ECI to rescind the elections and call for fresh polls, putting Ramasamy on a collision course with the ruling government. </p><p>Finally, Ramasamy plunges into politics and wins the elections. </p>
<p>Chennai: Actor-politician Vijay’s 2018 flick <em>Sarkar</em> was all about the power of one vote. And on Monday, as Vijay inched closer to ascent the Chief Minister’s chair, the reel played out in real. </p><p>TVK candidate R Seenivasa Sethupathy defeated DMK minister K R Periakaruppan, a veteran politician, by one vote, in a dramatic turn of events. While Sethupathy polled 83,375 votes, Periakaruppan scored 83,374 votes. </p>.Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026 | How TVK's Vijay ended six decades of Dravidian duopoly .<p>The margin was so slender that Periakaruppan demanded a recount. After multiple rounds of re-counting of votes, the TVK candidate was declared the winner. </p><p>The scenes were reminiscent of the 2008 assembly elections in Rajasthan when Congress’ C P Joshi lost his seat by one vote. </p><p>As the TVK candidate emerged victorious by one vote, supporters of Vijay began talking about the power of a vote on social media. They said this was the reason why hundreds of youngsters travelled from different countries to Tamil Nadu to exercise their franchise. </p><p>And his fans connected the victory by a single vote to <em>Sarkar</em>. </p>.Assembly Elections 2026 | Who will be next CMs in Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry?.<p>The movie was all about the power of a vote – business magnate Sundar Ramasamy, the character played by Vijay, travels all the way from the US to vote in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, only to find his vote already been cast illegally. </p><p>Ramasamy takes the Election Commission of India (ECI) to the Supreme Court and gets his right to vote only to find lakhs of people coming out to say their votes were also cast illegally. This forces the ECI to rescind the elections and call for fresh polls, putting Ramasamy on a collision course with the ruling government. </p><p>Finally, Ramasamy plunges into politics and wins the elections. </p>