Chennai: With actor-turned-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam courting Tamil Nadu’s change-seeking youth, Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) chief Seeman has launched a counter-strategy, recalibrating his party’s approach through caste and regional representation to not only prevent his roughly eight percent vote share from shifting to the TVK, but also expanding his support base before the 2026 Assembly polls.
NTK sources told ThePrint the party had finalised candidates for more than 100 constituencies, their selections driven by social and regional considerations, and not just Tamil ideological lines.
“The strategy is to give voice to the groups that were traditionally ignored by both the Dravidian parties. For instance, Dalits, tribal communities, smaller OBC groups who are not numerically in majority, and even Brahmins were selected as candidates for these 100-plus constituencies. This will help not just to counter the Dravidian majors (parties) but also the new entrant TVK,” an NTK insider told ThePrint.
For years, Seeman pitched himself as the Tamil nationalist alternative to the Dravidian duopoly. His experiment now with a calibrated caste-based social engineering model is aimed at expanding the NTK’s reach and protecting its base.
Political analyst N. Sathiya Moorthy said it was a pragmatic shift in the NTK’s approach.
“After they started contesting elections from the 2016 assembly polls, the NTK has never been seen fielding candidates based on their castes, but based on the ideological leanings of the candidate and how much efforts the candidate has put in for the party to grow. This could be a new strategy to counter the rise of Vijay’s TVK,” Sathiya Moorthy told ThePrint.
Other political analysts in the state said Seeman’s latest strategy is not just about holding onto the NTK’s 6–8 percent vote share, but an attempt to build new caste and region-based blocs that can give the party leverage in 2026.
Political commentator Ravindran Duraisamy told ThePrint the NTK’s goal now is to pull in communities “ignored by the AIADMK”, especially non-Vanniyar and non-Gounder groups.
“In western districts, the NTK is fielding Dalit candidates even in general constituencies. In the south, it’s reaching out to Mukkulathors and Nadars by invoking Muthuramalinga Thevar’s legacy. It’s a calculated social engineering plan, much like Kanshi Ram’s experiment in the north.” Duraisamy told ThePrint.
Actor Vijay’s political entry appears to have unsettled parties like Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi, with many observers stating Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam(TVK) could eat into NTK’s vote share, as has also been suggested in surveys.
However, after the 27 September stampede at Vijay’s rally in Karur, where 41 lives were lost, political analysts are divided on whether Vijay can actually garner the support of the ‘alternative-seeking’ voters who have so far been with Seeman’s NTK.
Professor and political analyst Arun Kumar said Vijay’s party has gained support even after the Karur stampede, and his party will inevitably eat into the NTK’s vote share.
“The vote share of NTK is likely to shift towards Vijay’s TVK since their ideological positioning and messaging are somewhat similar. There is a standard 10 percent of the electorate that consistently vote for an alternative to the two Dravidian parties, and this group could prefer Vijay to Seeman now,” Arun Kumar told ThePrint.
However, NTK’s youth wing coordinator Idumbavanam Karthi rejected the argument that Vijay could eat into their base. “We have built a strong base at the booth level, and our cadres are ideologically politicised. Our workers have ideological clarity and will not yield to the star gaze,” he told ThePrint.
TVK’s spokesperson A. Raj Mohan also dismissed suggestions that Vijay’s party is targeting NTK’s vote bank.“We do not look into the vote share of any party. We are looking to gain the support of the people,” he told ThePrint.
Also Read: How Seeman’s ‘autocratic’ rule has fuelled NTK exodus, and why he’s unfazed by mass resignations
NTK’s social engineering
Ahead of the 2026 assembly election, Seeman’s NTK has begun to recalibrate its strategy across the state. According to sources in the NTK, the NTK is planning to field candidates from Mukkulathor and Yadhava communities (OBC) in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts down south, where Dravidian parties largely nominate candidates from the Nadar community (OBC).
Similarly, in the northern districts where the Vanniyar community (OBC) is numerically dominant, sources told ThePrint, the NTK is likely to nominate candidates from Dalit community.
“We believe that the discontented second majority community and other smaller communities in the region would consolidate against the one numerically dominant community,” an NTK source told ThePrint.
According to the source, the party is also planning to field Brahmin candidates in Chennai’s T-Nagar, Mylapore, Saidapet and Birugambakkam constituencies.
“This community has been long sidelined by the Dravidian parties, but they do have support on the ground. Although the community is not numerically dominant, they might be seen as a caste-neutral candidate who would not support any of the dominant communities in the constituency,” the source told ThePrint.
The party is also said to be reaching out to Telugu-speaking communities including Naidus, Nayakars and Reddys, in an attempt to counter the perception that NTK is an anti-Telugu party. In certain unreserved constituencies, according to party insiders, Seeman is also planning to field tribal and Dalit candidates, a gesture of inclusivity.
“No other party gives such cross-community representation. From Brahmins in Chennai to Dalits in the north and tribals in general constituencies, our leader wants to look at every Tamil community and ensure that everyone is part of the movement,” a party functionary told ThePrint.
When asked about the party’s social engineering and choosing candidates based on their caste, party’s youth wing coordinator Idumbavanam Karthi said the seat allocation was not based on caste, but on the basis of social representation.
“We are not asking for votes in the name of caste. We are giving representation to all the communities in the particular region,” Karthi told ThePrint.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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