Resort politics begins in Tamil Nadu: Vijay's TVK rushes to stop poaching before election results

Tamil Nadu Assembly Election Results 2026: Exit polls projecting a landmark debut for Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) have set off a quiet scramble inside the party, one aimed at keeping its newly elected legislators firmly in the fold.

Sources told India Today that the party has directed all winning candidates to report immediately to its Panaiyur headquarters once results are declared. Depending on the final tally, the leadership is also weighing a shift to a secure resort location to insulate its MLAs from potential poaching by rival camps, a contingency plan quietly put in place well before counting day.

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The caution is not without cause. During the scrutiny phase, a TVK candidate from Edappadi briefly went missing, heightening anxieties within the party about pressure tactics and outside interference.

The numbers driving the nerves

The scale of TVK's projected performance is what makes these precautions feel less paranoid and more necessary. Today's Chanakya estimates the party could win around 63 seats with roughly 30 per cent of the vote, positioning it as a decisive third force in a legislature long dominated by the DMK and AIADMK. Axis My India goes considerably further, projecting 98 to 120 seats in the 234-member Assembly, territory that edges close to the majority mark of 117 and could make TVK the single largest party.

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Both surveys point to a broad consolidation of support: younger voters, urban constituencies, and sections of the Backwards Classes, Most Backwards Classes, and Scheduled Castes appear to have responded to the party's change message. First-time voters and the unemployed feature prominently in the base. Leadership preference surveys add another dimension. Vijay is seen running close to Chief Minister M K Stalin in public approval.

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Every seat will count

The two projections differ sharply in scale but agree on one thing: TVK has disrupted Tamil Nadu's two-party equilibrium. At the lower end, it becomes a kingmaker. At the higher end, it could be forming the next government.

That is precisely why the party is moving now. In a post-result landscape where a handful of seats could determine who governs, locking down its legislators is less a sign of panic than a measure of how seriously TVK is reading the moment.