In short:
The Liberals have named Venkat Ram Upparlapalle as their candidate for Tarneit at the 2026 Victorian state election. Labor has held the western suburbs seat since it was created in 2002 and the South Asian vote will be fiercely contested.
Growing District Will Be Election Battleground
The battle for one of Victoria’s fastest-growing electorates has gone up a notch with the Liberals deploying Venkat Ram Upparlapalle as their candidate for Tarneit.
A Truganina local who emigrated to Australia as an international student, Upparlapalle works as an IT lead in Victoria’s energy sector and runs a property buyers agency.
A Liberal Party member for more than eight years, he has worked as a party organiser and contested Wyndham City Council’s Wimba Ward election in 2024.
Labor has held Tarneit since the district was created in 2002, with Dylan Wight retaining the seat at the 2022 state election.
Key Voter Base For All Parties
Wight secured 46.62 per cent of first preferences, compared with 26.78 per cent for Liberal candidate and former Wyndham mayor Preet Singh, with the pair finishing on 50.41 and 30.21 per cent respectively after the full distribution of preferences.
The electorate centres around its namesake Tarneit and Hoppers Crossing, with Tarneit rapidly growing and, by some estimates, slated to become Australia’s most populous suburb.
Politicians, parties and pundits place a particular focus on the South Asian community—one of the biggest in Australia—and trying to secure their loyalty.
(Venkat Ram Upparlapalle, former Wyndham mayor and 2022 Tarneit candidate Preet Singh and disendorsed Western Metropolitan Region candidate Dinesh Gourisetty).
More Liberal Candidates Expected To Follow
While many anticipate Labor could suffer a major swing against their primary vote, they are likely to be aided by preferences coming from minor left-wing parties who heavily contested the seat in 2022.
With little more than three months until election day, the Liberals have only announced three of their four lower house hopefuls.
Reece Clark was endorsed to try and tip the ultra-marginal seat of Werribee, Ghada Noune will run for Laverton news, while no candidate have been publicly announced for Point Cook.
The party also recently appointed Melbourne’s deputy lord mayor Roshena Campbell to replace Moira Deeming as their first upper house candidate choice.
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