In a major political setback for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has been defeated in the Kolathur Assembly seat by TVK candidate V.S. Babu. Kolathur, which was Stalin's stronghold, witnessed a three-cornered contest involving TVK and AIADMK’s P. Santhana Krishnan.
Though the official figures are not yet available on the Election Commission of India’s website, available data showed Stalin trailing by over 8,000 votes, with V.S. Babu leading with 72,498 votes.
Who is V.S. Babu?
V.S. Babu, a 75-year-old, is a veteran politician and a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). He previously served as an MLA from the Purasawalkam constituency, having won the 2006 election as a member of the DMK. He later joined Vijay’s TVK on February 7, 2026. Babu served as the MLA for the Purasawalkam constituency from 2006 to 2011.
Babu was the DMK’s North Chennai district secretary until 2011 and was in charge of the Kolathur constituency for the 2011 election. However, after losing, he questioned the party’s high command, as M.K. Stalin had won by a narrow margin. In 2011, he was replaced by P.K. Shekhar Babu as the North Chennai district secretary after falling out of favour with the leadership.
According to his 2026 election affidavit, he declared assets worth Rs 3.7 crore.
