Will Vijay form a government in Tamil Nadu? A question that has been at the center of attention ever since the Election Commission announced the results of the 2026 Lok Sabha elections. Actor-turned-politician Tamilaja Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), who has just two years of political experience, swept the polls to mark a historic debut, bagging 108 of the 234 seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
TVK has weathered its nearly five-decade-long Dravidian rule and emerged as the single largest party in the state. Follow live updates on Tamil Nadu government formation
Despite the landslide victory, Thalapathy’s party fell short of the magic number of 118 seats required to form the government in the state.
First, let’s look at the results numbers:
Vijay’s TVK bagged 108 seats, including the two seats contested by the party president – Perambur and Trichy East. However, within 14 days of the election result being announced, the actor-turned-politician has to resign from one seat.
The outgoing Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-Congress alliance won 73 seats. Of these, the DMK got 59 seats, and the Congress got five. Their other allies, Viduthalai Chiruthaijal Katchi (VCK), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) got two seats each, while the Disiya Murpukku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) managed to get just one seat.
Check out the Tamil Nadu election results in 3D on HT
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) got 53 seats, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) got 47 seats, the Pattali Makkal Katchi Party (PMK) got four seats, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMKMNKZ) got one seat each.
Questions about who will Vijay choose
As Vijay’s TVK numbers became clearer before the ECI officially announced the results, questions arose about ‘Thalapathy’s’ options should he fail to achieve a majority. This came on the background
These doubts were based on Vijay’s earlier statements, in which he described the BJP as its “ideological adversary” and outgoing Prime Minister MK Stalin described the DMK as an “evil force”.
Congress provides conditional support to TVK
On Wednesday, Congress agreed to support Vijay’s party to form the government in Tamil Nadu. But on one condition.
The Congress said it was ready to support Vijay, on the condition that he keeps “communal forces who do not believe in the Constitution of India” out of the alliance.
The party’s statement came in response to Vijay’s request for support after TVK failed to get the required 118 seats. The Congress said in a message that the people of Tamil Nadu, especially the youth, have rendered judgment in favor of a secular, progressive and pastoral government that believes in constitutional principles.
The party said it was its “constitutional duty” to respect the mandate of the people in the state, saying it had decided to extend its full support to TVK to form the government.
Will the TVK-Congress numbers be enough?
Unfortunately, for Vijay, the answer is no. Even with Congress’ support, TVK will not have a majority to form the government. Vijay has 108 seats, and Congress has five, for a total of 113 seats. But they are still less than 5 seats.
Two possible options have been doing the rounds
TVK chief Vijay met Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlikar at Lok Bhavan on Wednesday. Ahead of his meeting, talks have emerged about two possible options that the governor could offer to Vijay.
First, Arlikar can summon Vijay and ask him to show his majority in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council. Secondly, he may ask Vijay to collect letters from supporting parties and submit them to him.
What happened in Governor Vijay’s meeting?
Although TVK chief Vijay met Governor Rajendra Arlikar to claim power, he was not invited to form the next government. Lok Bhavan was seeking a legal opinion to ensure that TVK gets a majority.
HT had earlier reported that Vijay had submitted a list of names of TVK and Congress legislators who supported his party. However, Lok Sabha officials said the governor “wants to ensure” that Vijay has the support of a majority of MLAs.
Read also | Will Vijay form the government? “We will wait and watch…” says outgoing Tamil Nadu President Stalin
With the governor rejecting the TVK chief’s invitation to form the government, the party’s plans to hold a grand swearing-in ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on May 7 have been postponed.
What does the law say?
Governors usually invite the single largest party to form the government in the state if no single party or pre-election alliance crosses the halfway mark in India. This is a scenario that was previously revealed in Maharashtra in 2019.
However, there is no law for such a situation. The Constitution leaves the decision to the ruler.
Legal expert Vijayan Subramanian, as reported by HT earlier, said Arlikar had created “confusion”.
He cited SR Bommai v Union of India to say that the Supreme Court had categorically held that the question of majority should ordinarily be tested only on the floor of the Assembly and not by the subjective assessment of the Governor.
Parading an elected leader or unilaterally showing a majority before the governor without the test of the word could go against the constitutional principles laid down by the Supreme Court, Subramanian added.
Will AIADMK break away from BJP to support TVK?
After Congress, one of TVK’s best options for achieving majority would be to support the AIADMK. However, the party, led by Edappadi K Palaniswami, made it clear that it would extend support to Vijay’s party in forming the government.
The AIADMK said the party has not supported TVK under any circumstances so far.
AIADMK deputy general secretary KP Munusamy dismissed reports of the party’s support for TVK as “completely false”.
Read also | Tamil Nadu Congress official says Vijay-Rahul Gandhi combination could have won 180-190 seats
“The AIADMK will under no circumstances support TVK. We are issuing this clarification as per the instructions of our party general secretary (Edappadi K Palaniswami),” news agency PTI reported, quoting Munusamy.
What about congressional allies?
VCK, CPI, CPI(M), IUML and DMDK are part of the Congress-DMK alliance. With the Congress withdrawing to extend support to Vijay’s TVK, will the other allied parties, of course, except MK Stalin’s party, support Vijay?
VCK leader Thul Thirumavalavan said that while he and the Left parties had received letters from Vijay seeking their support, they would take a “decision later”.
Meanwhile, IUML gave a clear answer. The party said it would not support TVK.
IUML president Kader Muhyiddin said the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, of which the union was a part, was not an “electoral alliance” but an ideological one.
Muhyiddin said that although the SPA was defeated in the 2026 elections, there was no ambiguity that “neither the DMK nor the Muslim community will surrender because of the defeat.”
He said that their alliance will remain today as it was yesterday.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) rejected allegations of being invited by TVK to form an alliance and said that Left parties are present in the DMK-led alliance.
Vijay meets the governor again
On Thursday, TVK chief Vijay met Governor Rajendra Arlikar again at Lok Bhavan to convince him of his party’s majority. However, no official word has been reported about what happened during their meeting.
Meanwhile, the AIADMK is seeking the governor’s time
Amid the pre-existing chaos over whether Vijay will be able to form a government in Tamil Nadu, the opposition AIADMK has sought time to meet the Tamil Nadu Governor. the reason? This is still unknown.
Organize One last time on the numbers
Currently, Vijay’s TVK party has the support of Congress, but still lacks a majority. Assuming that Congress allies from the DMK-led alliance might cross paths, here’s what we could look at:
Parties in DMK-led SPA: Congress, VCK, CPI, CPI(M), IUML, DMDK.
Congress got its five seats in support of Vijay, and now TVK holds 113 seats.
The IUML has said no, suggesting that the numbers remain stagnant. The CPI(M) also suggested that it will not support Vijay’s party, again, no gains for TVK.
VCK’s decision is pending, suggesting that it may or may not support Vijay. If VCK says no, TVK will be at a crossroads again. However, if the VCK, which won two seats in the elections, says yes to Vijay, his support numbers will rise to 115. Again, short of a majority, but with a narrow gap.
While there is no word from DMKDK on whether he will support TVK or TVK, even if he does, Vijay will not get two seats of the number required to form the government.
It remains to be seen whether Vijay will form the government in Tamil Nadu, and if he does, how it will happen.
(With inputs from S Vijay Karthik)
