Chennai: Fan club heads and candidates who earlier won local body polls under the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam banner were among the first set of 50 aspirants interviewed by TVK president Vijay on Tuesday for the 2026 assembly elections. Most of those who appeared before him were long-time loyalists who were associated with Vijay for more than a decade. The list included TVK district secretaries such as ‘ECR’ Saravanan, who is likely to contest from Sholinganallur, Anban Kallanai from Madurai (West) and Parthiban from Salem (South). Mohammed Parveez, a councillor from Pudukottai, and a few others who won the 2021 polls as ward members were also among those interviewed. Vijay also interviewed a few aspirants from non – political background, in the 40–50 age group, who joined the party after the launch of TVK in 2024.Aspirants were brought in groups of five. During the interaction, Vijay told them that he hoped to see them elected as MLAs soon. “He said that challenges could arise in the journey, but the party would face those obstacles together,” said a candidate, adding that he also asked them to begin work in their constituencies with confidence. Vijay had explained to them that he stepped away from acting and entered politics to serve people, the candidate said.After the meeting, each aspirant was handed a bag labelled with the name of the constituency. The bag had details including constituency profile, voter statistics, details of booth committees, and a pen drive and booklet outlining the tasks expected to be carried out over the next 30 days. Vijay is expected to invite the remaining shortlisted aspirants at Panaiyur in the coming days.Before the interviews, TVK held a meeting with state-level functionaries KA Sengottaiyan, Aadhav Arjuna, N Anand and Arun Raj to review poll preparedness in constituencies where they worked for weeks. TVK sources said they are likely to contest from Gobichettipalayam, Villivakkam, T Nagar and Tiruchengode respectively.
