The winner of the Tamil Nadu election appears to be Vijaykanth, an actorknown as the poor man's Rajnikanth (now figure that out!). With one seat forVijaykanth from Vridhachalam, the success does not manifest itself in 'partyposition' tables. However, with 8.3 percent of the popular vote, with no one foran ally, his party has proved to be a spoiler in more than a hundredconstituencies. He is threatening to emerge as the only pan-Tamil Nadu forcenext to DMK and the AIADMK. Travelling across Tamil Nadu in April 2006, I raninto several people who said they would vote for Vijaykanth's party. Asked togive the full name of his party, they fumbled. 'Desiya DMK' said one person inThirumangalam who was in favour of the party. Quizzed further, "What doesit matter, Vijaykanth's candidate will poll 20,000 votes here," he saidemphatically. The figure became an Election Commission of India statistic on May11, with Desiya Murpoku Dravidar Kazhagam's T. Thanapandian polling 19,970 votesin Thirumangalam, coming third.