Chennai auto driver beats DMK and AIADMK heavyweights, wins Royapuram for TVK
TVK's Vijay Dhamu, an auto driver, won Royapuram by defeating Subair Khan and D Jayakumar on Monday. The upset cracked a long-held North Chennai stronghold and underlined the party's striking debut in Tamil Nadu's 2026 Assembly election.
Vijay Dhamu of TVK won in Royapuram on May 4 (Agency Photo)
In what is being hailed as the biggest David vs Goliath story of the Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections, K Vijay Dhamu, an auto-driver by profession, has secured a stunning victory in the Royapuram constituency. Representing the debutant Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), Dhamu defeated two of the most powerful political legacies in the state. He polled over 55,000 votes, clinching the seat with a comfortable margin of 14,000 votes over his nearest rival.
The victory is particularly significant as it comes at the expense of AIADMK strongman and five-time MLA D. Jayakumar, who was relegated to a distant third place with just over 18,000 votes. The DMK's Subair Khan, son of the late veteran Minister Rahman Khan, finished second but failed to withstand the Vijay wave that has swept Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu.
Wondering how TVK made a splash in Tamil Nadu? We have got you covered.
Dhamu, who has long been a part of the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (the actor's fan club network), built his campaign on his identity as a common man. "You may call us new faces, but we have been working on the ground for years through our fan clubs," Dhamu had stated during his campaign.
A poignant image from the candidate announcement ceremony—showing a tearful Vijay Dhamu embracing TVK chief Vijay—has become the defining symbol of the party's grassroots surge.
By strategically positioning himself as the primary face of every constituency, Vijay allowed Dhamu to leverage that massive star power while focusing on ground-level issues. This Thalapathy factor has created a tectonic wave across the state, catapulting the debutant party well past the 100-seat mark and turning local candidates into giant-killers.
His manifesto for the coastal constituency focused heavily on the fishing community, promising modernised infrastructure and social security-a move that clearly seems to have resonated with the local electorate.
BIG BLOW TO TRADITIONAL POWERHOUSES
The loss is a major blow to the AIADMK, as Royapuram has been a traditional stronghold for Jayakumar since 1991. For the DMK, the defeat highlights the failure of their strategy to field Subair Khan after dropping the sitting MLA, Idream R. Murthy.
As TVK surges toward a potential majority in the state, Vijay Dhamu's journey from the auto-stand to the Legislative Assembly stands as a symbolic victory for the party's common man narrative.
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