2026 Assembly Elections: Vijay's Party Allotted 'Whistle' Symbol

As the election for the Tamil Nadu Assembly gets nearer, the Election Commission has distributed the election symbols already to some of the new political parties. On Thursday, the symbol of 'whistle' was given to the actor Vijay's party, Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) by the Commission. Besides, the party of the actor Kamal Haasan, Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) was allotted 'battery torch' symbol.

Election Commission Decision

The day TVK sought a symbol was November 11. This request was prompted by the Election Commission’s advisory to unrecognised political parties that they should come by early and submit their requests for symbols because the Assembly elections were due soon. Party of Kamal Haasan, MNM, alas submitted its application in November as well.

Both the parties presented their preference lists of symbols and asked the Commission to assign one. The Commission after sorting out the requests has given different symbols to the parties.

MNM and the Battery Torch Symbol

Makkal Needhi Maiam had already made use of 'battery torch' symbol in earlier elections. The party fought the Lok Sabha elections of 2019 and the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections of 2021 under that very symbol. The election authority’s ruling empowers MNM for the time being still to make use of the symbol.

Significance of the 'Whistle' Symbol for TVK

Vijay has been a famous actor and has a huge following in Tamil Nadu as well as Andhra Pradesh. Furthermore, many of his movies sometimes even are shot in Telugu and released in that language. For example, his movie Bigil, which was directed by Atlee and is based on football, was released in Telugu under the name Whistle and was received very well by the viewers.

To give the 'whistle' symbol to Vijay's party is being regarded as significant because it links his political coming with a name that is already known by the supporters. It will not be a mere support for the actor as a political leader this time to overstep the polls.