David vs Goliath moment: Auto driver from TVK defeats Tamil Nadu’s former finance minister Jayakumar

Tamil Nadu Election Results 2026: K Vijay Dhamu drives an auto for a living. On counting day, he drove right through two of Tamil Nadu’s most entrenched political legacies.

The TVK debutant won the Royapuram constituency with over 55,000 votes, beating his nearest rival by a margin of 14,000. AIADMK strongman D Jayakumar, Tamil Nadu’s former finance minister and also a five-time MLA who has held Royapuram since 1991, finished a distant third with just over 18,000 votes.

The DMK’s Subair Khan, son of the late veteran Minister Rahman Khan, came second but could not hold back the wave.

Don’t miss: Tamil Nadu Election Results: Full list of winners from DMK, TVK, AIADMK, BJP

The man behind the win

Dhamu has been part of the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam, the actor’s fan club network, for years. His campaign was built on exactly that identity: a common man who had been working on the ground long before anyone handed him a ticket.

“You may call us new faces, but we have been working on the ground for years through our fan clubs,” Dhamu had said during his campaign.

A single image captured the emotional core of that journey, Dhamu, tearful, embracing TVK chief Vijay at the candidate announcement ceremony. It became the defining photograph of the party’s grassroots surge across the state.

Do checkout: Vijay wave sweeps Tamil Nadu: What is TVK and when was it founded?

His manifesto was rooted in Royapuram’s coastal character: modernised infrastructure and social security for the fishing community. It resonated.

The Thalapathy factor

TVK’s strategy was deliberate. By positioning himself as the primary face of every constituency, Vijay gave local candidates like Dhamu the weight of star power while keeping the campaign grounded in local issues. That combination has produced what the party is now calling a tectonic wave, pushing TVK past the 100-seat mark and turning first-time candidates into giant-killers across Tamil Nadu.

What the result means for the old guard

For the AIADMK, Royapuram is not just any loss. Jayakumar has held the seat since 1991, three decades of dominance erased in a single count. For the DMK, the defeat exposes the cost of a last-minute strategy shift: dropping sitting MLA Idream R Murthy in favour of Subair Khan did not pay off.