Tamil Nadu Election Date 2026: Voting in one phase on April 23, results on May 4; check full details

NEW DELHI: Voting for the 234-member Tamil Nadu legislative assembly will be held in a single phase on April 23, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Sunday.The counting of votes will take place on May 4. According to the Election Commission of India, there are 5.67 crore eligible voters, including 2.77 crore males and 2.89 crore females. The number of first-time eligible voters stands at 12.51 Lakh. In 2021, the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) had swept the state, winning 159 seats. The DMK alone secured 133 seats, up from 98 five years earlier.AIADMK, the DMK arch-rival that was voted out of power after two successive terms, contested as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The party won 66 seats, down from 136 in 2016.The DMK, led by chief minister MK Stalin, has once again allied with the Congress and other smaller partners. Under the current arrangement, the Congress will contest 28 seats and secure a Rajya Sabha berth. In 2021, the grand old party had won 18 out of 25 seats. It had been negotiating for a larger share before the current agreement was agreed upon.Meanwhile, the AIADMK and the BJP split in 2024 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections but reunited in April last year. The seat-sharing formula for the NDA has yet to be finalised.This time, however, a third player has entered the race. Superstar Vijay launched his party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, in February 2024, aiming to challenge the traditional DMK-AIADMK duopoly. He has been drawing massive crowd at his rallies.The 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly elections, held on April 6, were the first state polls since the passing of two political stalwarts, both former chief ministers: J Jayalalithaa of the AIADMK, who died in December 2016 months after winning re-election, and M Karunanidhi, the DMK patriarch, who passed away in August 2018.