Chennai: Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s VS Babu on Monday defeated Chief Minister MK Stalin in his stronghold, Kolathur constituency for the 2026 Assembly elections.
Stalin, who is seeking a second straight term is behind TVK’s VS Babu by more than 9,900 votes after 22 rounds of counting of votes polled in the April 23 state elections, according to the latest trends on the Election Commission website.
While Babu received more than 82,000 votes, Stalin got around 73,000. AIADMK’s R Santhanakrishnan stood in the third position with 14,000 votes.
VS Babu has formerly been associated with the DMK and AIADMK. The 75-year-old served as the Purasawalkam MLA from 2006 to 2011. He was also the DMK’s district secretary for north Chennai until 2011.
He was in charge of the Kolathur constituency for the 2011 assembly elections. He, however, was reportedly questioned by the DMK for Stalin’s narrow victory and was replaced.
He later joined the AIADMK.
He then joined TVK this year and is currently the joint general secretary of the party, which was launched by actor Vijay to take on the DMK and AIADMK in 2024.