Actor-turned-politician C. Joseph Vijay comfortably won a vote of confidence in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly today, marking the first major test of his coalition government just three days after being sworn in as Chief Minister. The TVK-led administration secured 144 votes in favour of the motion, well above the required majority of 118, with 22 votes against and five neutral votes.
The floor test, directed by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, was held following the formation of the new government after the April 23, 2026, Assembly elections. Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar conducted the voting after a debate on the confidence motion moved by Vijay himself.
Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), the two-year-old party founded by Vijay, emerged as the single-largest party in the elections with 108 seats and a vote share of approximately 34.92%, disrupting Tamil Nadu’s decades-long DMK-AIADMK duopoly. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won 59 seats, while the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) secured 47. Smaller allies and independents made up the rest.
No single party or pre-poll alliance reached the majority mark of 118. TVK, falling short by 10 seats, stitched together a post-poll coalition with the Congress (5 seats), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK, 2 seats), Communist Party of India (CPI, 2 seats), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M), 2 seats), and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML, 2 seats).
However, on the voting day today, crucial additional support came from a rebel faction of 25 AIADMK MLAs, led by senior leaders such as S.P. Velumani and C. Ve. Shanmugam, who defied their party whip.
S. Kamaraj, the lone MLA of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), also voted for the govt. He was expelled by the party yesterday for announcing support to the TVK Government.
Notably, DMK walked out of the house before the voting. The party led by Udhayanidhi Stalin staged a walkout questioning the legitimacy of the “reel government” and refused to participate in the vote. The official AIADMK faction opposed the motion and issued a whip, but the rebel group crossed the floor to support TVK, triggering commotion in the House.
While the party won 108 seats, its votes were 105 during the confidence motion. This is because, CM Vijay had won from two seats and he had to resign from one, one vote was lost to the speaker’s chair, and Madras High Court restrained TVK MLA Seenivasa Sethupathi from Tiruppattur from voting due to an election petition.
Vijay was sworn in as Chief Minister on May 10, 2026, at a grand ceremony at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, alongside nine TVK ministers. In his maiden public address as CM, he pledged transparency, women’s safety, no “power centres” other than himself, and a “new era of real, secular, social justice.” He also announced plans for a White Paper on the state’s finances amid a reported ₹10 lakh crore debt.
With the floor test cleared, Vijay’s government can now focus on governance priorities such as free electricity promises, women’s protection forces, anti-drug squads, and fiscal transparency. The 52-year-old CM, Tamil Nadu’s first Christian Chief Minister, faces the challenge of delivering on high expectations from a young, aspirational voter base that propelled TVK to victory.
