New Delhi: In Kolathur assembly constituency, Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin was defeated by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s (TVK) V.S. Babu by a margin of 8,795 votes. Stalin has represented this constituency since 2011. Interestingly, Babu was previously associated with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and even won the Purasawalkam assembly seat on a DMK ticket in 2006.Photo: Election Commission of India.According to Babu’s election affidavit, he is 75 years old and has studied till the eighth standard.In the DMK, Babu was a grassroots worker who rose to become the party’s North Chennai district secretary. He became a popular figure in Chennai’s political circles. As per media reports, his popularity and importance within the party slowly faded with the emergence of senior leaders, including P.K. Sekarbabu, who has been holding the position of Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments of Tamil Nadu in the DMK government.The Kolathur seat was created after a delimitation exercise before the 2011 Tamil Nadu assembly election. Previously, Stalin represented the Thousand Lights constituency. In 2011, the DMK chief defeated AIADMK’s Saidai Duraisamy by a margin of 2,734 votes. V.S. Babu was the campaign manager at the time. Subsequently, Satlin won the 2016 polls by 27,730 votes and by 70,384 votes in 2021.Also read: DMK’s Defeat Does Not Signal the Decline of Dravidian Politics, but the Rise of a New ClaimantAs per reports, Babu was replaced by Sekarbabu as the North Chennai district secretary after Stalin won the Kolathur seat by a narrow margin in 2011 assembly polls.After leaving the DMK, Babu joined the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). In fact, a Facebook page with his name, which has only around 370 followers, has E.P. Palaniswami and J. Jayalaithaa’s photo as the cover image. In February 2026, he joined TVK and was fielded against Stalin from the Kolathur assembly constituency.He has not made any statement to the national media so far since his win against the chief minister. Several videos being circulated on social media shows him gesturing that he has finished the DMK (purportedly) and waving the victory symbol.