The Election Commission has announced by-election dates for two Tamil Nadu Assembly constituencies, Madurantakam and Dharapuram. Polling is scheduled for October 6, with votes to be counted and results declared on October 9.

Nominations opened on September 9 and closed on September 16. Although seven Assembly seats are vacant in Tamil Nadu, by-elections have been announced only for these two seats; court cases have delayed polls for the others.

Maragatham Kumaravel, elected from Madurantakam, and Sathyabama, elected from Dharapuram, originally entered the Assembly as AIADMK members. Both later left the AIADMK and joined the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), leading to these by-elections.

In the 2026 Assembly election, the NTK candidate received 4,950 votes (2.5%) in Madurantakam and 6,026 votes (3.01%) in Dharapuram. Both fell below the vote threshold required to retain their election deposits. AIADMK, TVK and DMK candidates crossed that threshold in both constituencies.

Editor's forecast for the by-election

Swami Sankarananda considers it likely that both former MLAs will win again and return to the Assembly as TVK members. He expects the AIADMK and DMK to retain their deposits, while predicting that NTK candidates Janakiraman in Madurantakam and Karthika in Dharapuram will be rejected by voters. He describes NTK as indirectly supporting Dravidian politics. These are predictions about the upcoming vote.