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Following the actor-turned-politician C Joseph Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s (TVK) sweeping victory in Tamil Nadu's 2026 Assembly elections, his fans in Kerala are now aspiring and awaiting the official nod to begin a chapter. Vijay has hundreds of fan associations in Kerala, which run multiple welfare programmes under the name Thalapathy Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (people’s movement), now changed to TVK. However, they haven’t officially registered the party, as they are waiting for instructions from Tamil Nadu TVK leaders.
“We can run programmes and other activities under the fans' association, but we need official permission when we do so under the name of a political party. Now, many Vijay fans in Kerala are waiting for that official announcement,” said Soumya SS, the Thiruvananthapuram district president of Makkal Iyakkam’s women’s wing.
TVK was founded on February 2, 2024, two months before the Lok Sabha elections in India. The party quickly attracted a large following, mainly driven by Vijay's fanbase. It established a presence in Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry, drawing in a significant number of young, first-time voters. In the 2026 Assembly polls, TVK won 108 seats as a single party and later formed a government with an alliance with Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK).
Following the formation of the government in Tamil Nadu, many social media pages emerged on Facebook and Instagram in the name of the TVK Kerala unit, and some even claimed TVK would soon announce the Kerala unit, with IT professionals and degree holders as heads. However, Soumya clarified that all those pages and the content they promote are false and not verified by any Vijay fan association in the state.
“We have been receiving many messages and phone calls from people interested in taking membership. We are asking them to wait for the official announcement,” Soumya said. She added, “Once we receive permission, we need to begin by establishing district units, which is the first step in forming a state unit.”
Fans to party members
Before TVK, the association was actively involved in conducting blood donation campaigns, giving food to people, and conducting other activities under Makkal Iyakkam. Once TVK was formed, they changed the name of Makkal Iyakkam to TVK, but this was not officially registered. “We are waiting for the Tamil Nadu nod to form a party and its registration,” said Soumya
Like Tamil Nadu, in Kerala, also, the expected party members are his fans. However, the thousands of Vijay fans in Kerala belong to different political parties, and as per Soumya, other political party members, who do not wish to join the TVK, can still work with Makkal Iyakkam without joining TVK. "Vijay's fans represent different political affiliations here. Some have informed us that they will support Makkal Iyakkam but not TVK," Soumya added.
When TNM visited Tamil Nadu’s Kongu region during the election campaigns, many shared their concerns about the younger generation backing Vijay without clarity on his politics. Many attribute the lack of student politics in Tamil Nadu to that. But the student political scenario in Kerala is different, as most of the colleges in the state have politically aware students with active student politics.
Addressing this, Soumya said, the growth of TVK in Kerala can be seen in a few months. “The fans' associations have a lot of youth, and I hope they support him in politics too,” she added. She noted that Vijay was receiving considerable support from Kerala on social media, especially after his swearing-in and the decisions he has made thus far. “If TVK can establish a highly successful government in Tamil Nadu, the people here will surely support TVK, regardless of any generation gap,” she added.
Political parties from Tamil Nadu seeking to establish a presence in Kerala are not a new scenario. Both Dravidian parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), have active organisational units and political workers in Kerala, particularly in the high-range plantation areas and districts that border Tamil Nadu. In September 2019, AIADMK member Praveena S was elected as the president of the Peerumade grama panchayat with the support of the UDF.