Vijay’s TVK stakes claim to form govt after hung verdict

Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam emerged as the single largest party with 108 seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, staking claim to form government as Governor R. N. Ravi weighs options amid a hung verdict

Chennai: A day after the counting of votes in the Tamil Nadu Assembly election, focus turned towards government formation as Vijay-led TVK emerged as the single largest party. As the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam won 108 seats in the 234-member legislative Assembly, lacking a majority, Vijay wrote to Lok Bhavan, staking a claim to form the government.

He informed the Governor that the party had secured 108 seats, and being the single largest party, it should be invited to form the government. “We request an opportunity to demonstrate our majority,” Vijay had said in an e-mail communication to Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, a source in the TVK said.

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An official said the Governor is likely to consult legal experts before inviting Vijay to form the government, as no party has secured a clear majority in the election held on April 23. The TVK source added that the party had sought two weeks to prove the majority on the floor of the Assembly House.

Meanwhile, a heavy posse of police has been deployed outside the Panaiyur residence of Vijay, who had won from both Perambur and Tiruchirappalli East Assembly constituencies. He is likely to surrender one seat and would retain Perambur in Chennai.

“Vijay does not need to form a majority government. He can be invited by the Governor to form the government and take a floor test and dare the DMK and AIADMK to vote him out,” says commentator and political analyst Sumanth Raman.

“They (DMK and AIADMK) wouldn’t dare do this for now. I guess that if a floor test happens, one group of MLAs may abstain to allow the confidence vote to pass. So theoretically, he can run a minority Govt as long as the others won’t join each other to vote him out,” Raman said in a post on ‘X.’ Meanwhile,

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi spoke to Vijay and congratulated him on “TVK’s spectacular result”.
“This mandate reflects the rising voice of youth, which cannot, and will not, be ignored. My heartfelt thanks to the Congress workers of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for their hard work and support. I reiterate that the Congress party will continue to protect and serve the people of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,” the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said on ‘X.’ Congress leader in charge of Tamil Nadu, Girish Chodankar, said the poll result was “unexpected”.

“Overall, our performance was not very good, considering our CM also lost the election. It was not expected. The wave was in favour of TVK. The people of the state have voted for a change, and youngsters and women have clearly voted for the government of TVK. Somehow youngsters have been attracted to them, and they got the mandate of people,” Chodankar said.