Actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) leader Kamal Haasan is set to join the Rajya Sabha this July through a seat-sharing agreement with the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu. The elections for eight Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu and Assam are scheduled for July 19.

A statement from the DMK headquarters in Chennai confirmed that Kamal Haasan will contest the Rajya Sabha seat on a DMK ticket. MNM had allied with the DMK-led coalition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Haasan’s connection with the DMK strengthened after his film Vikram, produced and released by Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Red Giant Movies, became a box office hit. Haasan also stars in Mani Ratnam’s Thug Life, set for release on June 5.

Haasan chose not to run in the Lok Sabha elections but MNM fully supported and campaigned for the DMK-Congress alliance during the polls. The DMK reportedly offered Haasan the choice between contesting a Lok Sabha seat or accepting a Rajya Sabha position a year later, with Haasan opting for the latter. He explained his decision as a personal choice motivated by his desire to engage in national politics rather than personal political gain.

Notably, in 2018, Haasan had launched MNM and campaigned against the DMK, with a viral video showing him smashing a TV set bearing the MNM symbol, while delivering sharp critiques of the DMK. He contested the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly elections from Coimbatore South but narrowly lost to BJP’s Vanathi Srinivasan. During MNM’s eighth founding day event in Chennai, Haasan hinted at his upcoming parliamentary role by stating, “Our voice will be heard in Parliament this year. Your voice will be heard in the assembly next year.”

An atheist and intellectual, Haasan’s parliamentary speeches are expected to be an asset for the DMK as it continues to oppose the BJP and its policies.

Alongside Haasan, the DMK has renominated senior advocate and sitting Rajya Sabha member P. Wilson, poet-writer and party spokesperson Rokkiah Malik (known as Salma), and former Salem MLA S.R. Sivalingam.

Six Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu—currently held by Dr. S. Anbumani Ramadoss, M. Shanmugam, N. Chandrasegaran, P. Wilson, M.M. Abdulla, and Vaiko—will become vacant on July 25. Given its current assembly strength, the DMK is expected to win four of these seats, with the remaining two going to the AIADMK.