Tamil Nadu is all set to go to the Assembly polls on Thursday in one of the most unpredictable contests to be witnessed in the State. While the fight is mainly between the arch-rivals — the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) — the entry of Tamil Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has made it a three-cornered contest.

The single-phase poll will be for all the 234 Assembly constituencies, including 44 reserved for Scheduled Castes and two for Scheduled Tribes. The counting of votes is scheduled for May 4, 2026. The State has an electorate of about 5.73 crore voters.

Some of the constituencies to watch out for are Kolathur in Chennai, where MK Stalin is contesting; Chepauk–Tiruvallikeni, represented by Udhayanidhi Stalin; and Perambur in Chennai and Tiruch (East) with Joseph Vijay contesting from both.

The Kongu belt — covering Coimbatore, Avinashi, Karur, and Erode — has emerged as a crucial battleground, with a fierce contest expected between the DMK and the AIADMK alliances.

Meanwhile, ahead of the polls, the Election Commission of India has deployed 3.6 lakh personnel, including 300 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) teams to facilitate the large-scale process.

The agency has also deployed 83,875 police to maintain law and order during the poll process, according to the State’s Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik.

Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, Patnaik shared details on the State’s preparations ahead of the polls scheduled on Thursday.

The central agency has put up 75,064 polling stations across 33,133 locations. A total of 164,080 Electronic Voting Machines have been deployed to facilitate the voting process. There are 62 counting stations in total.

The total electoral strength in Tamil Nadu has been recorded as 5.73 crore voters, out of which 2.93 crore are female, 2.83 crore are male and 7,758 are transgender. Out of the electorate, 14.59 lakh are first-time voters.

The EC has also intercepted cash worth ₹1,262 crore and seized ₹543 crore ahead of the polls.

Meanwhile, the agency has blocked 2,180 social media links and recorded 5,634 total complaints for social media postings. Four election monitoring and control centres have been established at the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer alongside a State Media Control Room to monitor print media, electronic media, and social media platforms and report Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violations, negative or misleading news, hate speech, paid news and other objectionable content.

Published on April 22, 2026