Of the 4,032 candidates who contested in the Assembly elections held in Tamil Nadu on April 23, 3,352 lost their deposit amount as they failed to secure one-sixth of the total number of votes polled in their respective constituencies.
In Karur, of the 79 candidates who contested, 76 of them forfeited their deposit. Perambur, where 45 lost their deposit, Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar (36 candidates), and Kolathur (33 candidates) are the constituencies are among the constituencies where over 30 candidates lost their deposit.
Among the major political parties, the AIADMK candidates lost their deposit in 19 constituencies, while the BJP candidates lost their deposits in five. The NTK lost its deposit in all 234 constituencies. The Congress, CPI, CPI (M), DMDK, DMK, and VCK did not lose deposit in any of the constituencies they had contested in. Except for one independent candidate, 2,208 independent candidates forfeited their deposits. The TVK also did not lose deposit in any of the 233 constituencies.
According to figures from the Election Commission of India (EC), the polling percentage (State) stood at 86.03%, though the polling percentage (excluding postal ballots) was 85.01%. Of the total 5,86,954 postal votes received, 65,047 or 11.08% of the total postal votes were rejected. The TVK candidates secured 1,72,26,209 votes across 233 constituencies, while the DMK, which contested in 176 seats, got 1,19,29,144 votes, and AIADMK that contested in 172 Assembly segments received 1,04,62,146 votes.
As for gender distribution, of the 108 TVK candidates who secured a win, 13 are women, while six of the 47 AIADMK candidates were women. The only winning DMDK candidate, one of the two winning CPI(M) candidates, and one of the five winning Congress candidates are women.
One of the four PMK candidates who secured a win is a woman. None of the candidates who won from the AMMK, BJP, CPI, DMK, and the VCK are women.
Published – May 09, 2026 12:59 am IST
