The confidence of actor-turned-politician C. Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga  Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) to go it alone in its debut Assembly election, after being unable to attract allies despite a power-sharing offer, and his repeated positioning of the contest as the one only between the TVK  and the DMK have paid off handsomely.

The fledgling party relegated the DMK and the AIADMK to the second and third positions respectively, winning 107 of the 233 seats it contested, while it finished second in 76 seats and third in 50 seats.