When the Tamil Nadu election results came in on May 4, Vijay’s Tamil Nadu Kazhagam (TVK) party had won 108 seats in the 234-member Assembly – the largest single mandate, but short of a majority. What followed were five days of negotiations, in which every party that supported Vijay ultimately did so, not out of confidence in his leadership, but out of fear of what would happen without it.
This fear had two sides: the president’s rule, and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the centre. This, even as the BJP has a total of one seat in the new 17th Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Legal Ghost: Article 356
When no party is able to achieve a majority in the state assembly, the governor may recommend to the president that the state cannot be constitutionally governed. Under Article 356 of the Constitution, the president can then impose central rule and dissolve or suspend the state assembly and place the state under direct rule from New Delhi.
In Tamil Nadu, with its fierce tradition of state independence and deep suspicion of central government, the prospect of president’s rule was, for most regional parties, politically unacceptable. At least one of the parties supporting Vijay said so openly.
Then there was the importance of May 10, the day the previous council’s term officially ended. No oath by then meant Presidential rule anyway.
Congress, the first to become official
The Indian National Congress was the first major party to break away from the losing DMK-led alliance, announcing its support on May 6 through a formal statement signed by AICC in-charge of Tamil Nadu, Girish Chodankar. The statement registered a warning: “Our support should be conditional on TVK removing from this alliance any communal forces that do not believe in the Constitution of India.” The reference was to the BJP, a junior partner of the AIADMK, where their NDA alliance finished third.
The Congress also announced statewide protests against Governor Rajendra Arlikar, with state unit president K. Selvaperunthagai: “Governments are not decided on the lawns of Lok Bhavan. They are decided on the floor of the House.” The governor wanted to see the majority on paper first.
Left: Stopping the BJP at the door
The Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) held State Committee meetings on 8 May and arrived at the same conclusion as the Congress. The official message of the Communist Party of Iran conveyed “unconditional support” to TVK to form the government. Communist Party of India state minister M Veerapandian was direct in his reasoning: “We have extended our support; this is our democratic duty. This is a people’s democracy. We will stand with democracy, we will stand with the people.”
“At present, TVK is the only party that can form the government. To prevent BJP from coming to power indirectly, we have decided to support TVK,” the CPI(M) said. The two Left parties added four seats, taking the tally to 116 and 117 (Vijay won two seats, but can vote in the Assembly once).
VCK logic
VCK president Thul Thirumavalavan, whose two seats were the most contested in the negotiations, was the most vocal of all the supportive leaders when he finally spoke.
“We have to support Vijay to avoid President’s rule. We will not be an obstacle for Vijay to form the government. These are the two reasons for which we extended our support. There is no other political justification,” he said.
He added: “We do not believe that they are secular or non-secular. We do not care about that.”
With the two VCK seats, Vijay got a majority.
The IUML is supported from within the DMK alliance
The position of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) was the most bizarre of all. Party leader Kam Muhammad Abubakar reiterated his support to TVK while at the same time stating that IUML remained in the DMK-led alliance.
“There is no change. However, the Tamil Nadu State Committee of the Indian Muslim Union is continuing with the DMK-led alliance. We have extended support to TVK to form the government… Without our support, they cannot form the government. We are exercising our democratic right. We have discussed this matter with them (DMK),” he said.
The two IUML seats took the final confirmed tally to 120 voting MLAs, and 121 seats in the 234-seat House.
The DMK led by MK Stalin has already said that it will act as the opposition and that constitutional processes must be followed to allow the government to be formed. She is openly angry at Congress for not informing her before defecting, but has quashed speculation that she wants to form an alliance with her arch-enemy AIADMK to keep Vijay out of power.
The BJP distanced itself from all this, saying that the governor is only following the rules. Debate raged over constitutional propriety and precedent.
The governor relents
And through it all, Governor Rajendra Arlikar — a BJP veteran from Goa who has served as Kerala governor since January 2025 and assumed additional charge of Tamil Nadu only in March this year — has been the constant point.
He met Vijay three times in three days, and each time declined a formal invitation, citing a lack of written evidence of majority support.
On Saturday, with his flight to Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) booked for 7:10 pm, Arlikar canceled his travel plans and met Vijay’s delegation at 6:30 pm.
Vijay received the final letters of support only at around 5 pm.
The ruler was finally satisfied. He is now expected to be sworn in on Sunday, May 10.
