(from left) Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president and Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on Thursday (September 10, 2026) announced Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama as the candidates for the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituency byelections, respectively, scheduled for October 6.
Both Ms. Kumaravel and Ms. Sathyabama had contested the 2026 Assembly election from Madurantakam and Dharapuram, respectively, as AIADMK candidates. They won the elections but resigned as MLAs within a few days and subsequently joined the ruling TVK. Their resignations necessitated the October 6 bypolls.
Forty-four-year-old Ms. Kumaravel won the Madurantakam seat as an AIADMK candidate in both 2021 and 2026, despite the DMK wave in 2021 and the TVK wave in 2026 in the Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Chennai, and Chengalpattu (KTCC) zone. She previously served as a Member of Parliament representing the Kancheepuram Lok Sabha constituency from 2014 to 2019.
The 2026 election marked the first time the 51-year-old Ms. Sathyabama was elected to the Assembly, from Dharapuram.
They will now contest the byelections with the support of the Congress, VCK, IUML, and MDMK, which were previously part of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance in the 2026 Assembly election and are now constituents of the newly-formed TVK-led Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance.
AIADMK candidates
The AIADMK named former legislator Kanitha Sampath as its candidate for Madurantakam and K. Bhanumathi for Dharapuram, according to an announcement by party’s general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami
Published – September 10, 2026 11:27 am IST
