Vijay Meets 60 Aspirants as TVK Begins Candidate Interviews for Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections

Chennai: Actor-turned-politician Vijay on Wednesday initiated the first round of candidate interviews for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, shortlisting around 60 aspirants who have expressed interest in contesting on the ticket of his newly formed party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).

The interviews were conducted at the party’s headquarters in Panaiyur on the East Coast Road in Chennai. According to party sources, Vijay personally interacted with aspirants from different constituencies to assess their preparedness for the electoral battle and their strategy to connect with voters.

Among the first to be interviewed was the party’s general secretary N Anand, who has applied to contest from the T. Nagar Assembly constituency. Several other prominent aspirants also appeared before Vijay during the day-long interaction.

These included former minister KA Sengottaiyan seeking to contest from Gobichettipalayam, Adhav Arjuna for Villivakkam, C T Nirmalkumar from Usilampatti, and Venkataraman for the Mylapore constituency.

Other aspirants who participated in the interviews included former MLA V S Babu for Kolathur, district secretary Balamurugan for Ambattur, former minister Ku Pa Krishnan for Srirangam, and advocate Advocate Siva representing the North Chennai region.

Party functionaries such as Kovai Sampath, Mathiyazhagan, Parthiban, Vignesh, Revathi, Sindhuja, and Parvez were also among those interviewed.

In the Karaikudi constituency—where Seeman is expected to contest—doctor and aspirant Dr Prabhu has reportedly submitted his application seeking a ticket from TVK.

Sources within the party indicated that Vijay is likely to finalise candidates for 60 constituencies in the first phase following the interviews. An official announcement is expected shortly. Subsequent rounds of interactions with aspirants from other constituencies will follow as the party works toward identifying candidates for all 234 Assembly segments in the state.

Political observers say the exercise marks a significant organisational step for TVK as it prepares to enter the Assembly election arena. A notable feature of the applicant pool is the presence of a large number of first-time contestants, many of them young men and women inspired by Vijay’s entry into politics.

At the same time, several former ministers and legislators who had earlier been associated with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and are believed to be dissatisfied within their party have also submitted applications seeking tickets from TVK in constituencies where they had previously contested and won.

Many aspirants are long-time members of the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam, the actor’s grassroots support network that has now become a key organisational base for the new party.

During the interaction, Vijay is learnt to have emphasised the need for aspirants to take the party’s policies and election promises directly to the people and work intensively on the ground to secure victory.

With the political landscape in Tamil Nadu evolving ahead of the Assembly polls, analysts believe TVK’s entry could influence electoral dynamics, particularly among younger voters and first-time participants in the democratic process.