All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) General Secretary and former Chief Minister, Edappadi K Palaniswami, also known as EPS, who is contesting the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections from his Edappadi constituency in Salem district, was ahead by 1,38,330 votes, a margin of 90,278 votes, while independent candidate Premkumar K trailed by 48,052 votes; Kasi C of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) came third with 40,221 votes, a difference of 98,109 votes, according to EC data.
Palaniswami leads the National Democratic Alliance in the state and is considered the main rival to the ruling DMK, running on a platform to “save Tamil Nadu” from what he describes as chaotic and hereditary rule.
Palaniswami’s campaign, launched under the slogan ‘Let’s protect the people’, is centered on a ‘dual-engine’ model of governance through a strategic alliance with the BJP, PMK and AMMK. He responded to Deputy Prime Minister Udhayanidhi’s “slave” Stalin’s remarks, asserting that AIADMK cadres are proud followers of party founder M G Ramachandran (MGR) and submit to no one.
The EPS focused the election narrative on the DMK’s alleged failure to deliver more than 80% of its 2021 promises and the state’s rising debt, which it claims has reached… $1.25 thousand per citizen
Before becoming a prominent political figure, who was EPS?
Palaniswami was born on May 12, 1954 in Anthiur, and comes from a rural farming background. A lifelong loyalist of the late J Jayalalithaa, the party rose from the grassroots of the party in the 1980s. He served as an MP (1998-1999) and held the important highways and public works portfolios before being promoted to Prime Minister (2017-2021) after a period of internal transformation in the party. He is married to Rathi Palaniswami and they have one son.
About Edappadi
Edappadi constituency, located in the Congo Nadu belt, has been Palaniswami’s stronghold since 2011. While the district is witnessing competition from the KP, the PPP is widely seen as the “political strongman of Salem”. According to his 2026 election affidavit, Palaniswami declared assets worth approx $6.70 lakh crore, primarily identified as agricultural.
Read also | The AIADMK promises to make Tamil Nadu drug-free
If he won, he promised to deliver $10,000 monthly assistance per family, and strict control of the circulation of narcotic substances.
How did the Republican People’s Party perform in the previous elections?
In the 2021 Assembly elections, Edappadi K Palaniswami achieved a landslide victory in Edappadi, defeating DMK’s T Sampathkumar by a margin of 93,802 votes. This was a significant increase from the 2016 elections, where he won the same seat by a margin of 42,022 votes against DMK’s Karthi.
Palaniswami represented Edappadi for four terms (1989, 1991, 2011, 2016, and 2021). Although the AIADMK lost power to the DMK-led alliance in 2021, the party has maintained a strong presence in the western belt under its leadership. The 2021 loss forced the party to join the opposition, and Palaniswami subsequently took over as Leader of the Opposition on 11 May 2021.
For the 2026 elections, the AIADMK-led NDA (comprising the BJP, PMK and AMMK) faces the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance and the solo rival TVK led by actor Vijay. Voting for all 234 seats is scheduled to take place on April 23, with votes to be counted on May 4.
(With agency inputs)
