Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, captured both the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly seats in Friday's by-elections, with the DMK placed second in each contest and the AIADMK — the party that had held both constituencies after the April Assembly poll — relegated to third position across the board.

The AINRC, which operates in Puducherry as a partner of the BJP, secured the Thattanchavady by-election seat by a comfortable margin.

Victory margins in this by-election stayed comparatively narrow, a pattern that set it apart from earlier contests dominated by the two Dravidian parties, and one that pointed to a genuinely competitive three-way race — a configuration the State had not seen before. TVK faced its opening ballot-box test as a governing party in Tamil Nadu with these results. Following those two wins, TVK's Assembly representation climbed from 107 seats to 109.

Vacancies in five Assembly constituencies have put by-elections on the horizon for those seats. Victories at the polls for both former AIADMK legislators who switched sides after the Assembly election have prompted party watchers to note that other members could find the precedent persuasive enough to prompt defections of their own.

Reports suggest that roughly 25 of the 47 AIADMK legislators cast their ballots in support of the TVK government at the May trust vote, a move that placed them at odds with party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami.

The DMK held the runner-up position in both constituencies — a step up from third place in the April Assembly election — yet its overall share of the vote fell short of what the party had drawn in the general election.

Speaking on Friday, Vijay described the bypoll outcomes as a public rejection of financial influence, personal attacks, and political misconduct, adding that the results demonstrated continued voter trust in his party. Vijay's statement attributed the TVK's electoral gains to community ties and goodwill rather than financial inducements or voter coercion, presenting the outcomes as evidence that personal relationships had outweighed money-based campaign methods.

Both Stalin and Palaniswami directed accusations at TVK — the party then holding power — charging that its functionaries had drawn on state resources and interfered with voting procedures to shape outcomes in the Madurantakam and Dharapuram by-elections.

A vote gap of 20,040 separated TVK's K Maragatham Kumaravel from DMK's I Paranthaman when the Madurantakam count concluded, with the TVK nominee coming out ahead. Kumaravel drew 74,048 ballots, while Paranthaman's count came in at 54,008. S Kanitha Sampath — the AIADMK nominee and a former MLA — drew 47,450 votes to land in third position.

P Sathyabama, standing for TVK, pulled ahead of two rivals in Dharapuram by a margin of 9,471 votes to claim the seat. In both constituencies, the AIADMK placed no higher than third. Of the ballots counted in Dharapuram, Sathyabama drew 66,841 — equivalent to just over 37 percent of the total — while DMK's S Suganya gathered 57,370 votes, placing her share of the poll at 31.78 percent. A tally of 45,280 ballots cast in her favour placed AIADMK's K Banumathi at a share of 25.08 per cent of the total vote.