CHENNAI: The two-year-old TVK, led by Vijay, on Monday brought down the curtains on the six-decade-old bipolar politics dominated by the Dravidian majors, the DMK and the AIADMK, by emerging as the single-largest party in the 2026 Assembly election. No party has ever won 108 seats in its debut Assembly election single-handed.
This election, however, resulted in a hung Assembly in the state. The members of the 17th Tamil Nadu Assembly being sworn in with Vijay as chief minister will now depend not on votes already cast, but on the political calculations over the next few days.
Within a day or two, the TVK’s legislative members are expected to meet and elect Vijay as its leader. Following this, as the TVK has emerged as the single largest party, Vijay can meet Governor Rajendra Arlekar and stake claim to forming the next government. As per the procedure, the governor will ask him to prove his party’s majority within a time frame. It may be one week or one month, as it is at his discretion.
After the formation of the new government, the newly-elected MLAs will take the oath in the state Assembly. Governor Arlekar has been in Thiruvananthapuram since Kerala also underwent elections. He is likely to reach Chennai within a day or two.
As the TVK could not reach the magic number of 118 to form a government on its own, the party has few options but to seek the support of some of the allies of the DMK and the AIADMK.
With Vijay having offered power sharing to parties that would align with the TVK some time ago, and a section of the Congress already having expressed keenness on going with the TVK, political churn is likely in the coming days.
For the DMK, it would be a severe blow as it claimed that it would win 200 seats. In 2021, the party won 133 seats, but now it could win only about half of them.
The election has also been a severe blow for the AIADMK, as it has been pushed to third place by the TVK. In a way, Vijay proved his words right when he repeatedly asserted that this election is a contest between the TVK and the DMK.
Besides, none from the AIADMK can be the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, as the DMK emerged the second-largest party. With DMK president MK Stalin defeated in Kolathur, his son Udhayanidhi Stalin is likely to take over as the next Leader of the Opposition.
Vijay's 'kutty story' turns true, lone king beats pack of adversaries
Chennai: To everyone’s surprise, the TVK emerged as the single-largest party in the state in the Assembly elections. The outcome lent fresh resonance to a “kutty story” Vijay narrated months ago at the TVK’s first state conference, when he likened his political debut, amid questions over his inexperience, to Nedunchezhiyan, the Pandya ruler celebrated in Sangam literature for his victory at Thalaiyalangaanam against a confederacy of rival kings, including the Cheras and Cholas. In the anecdote,
Vijay recalled how the young king, who came to power after losing his parents, was cautioned by elders that defeating such powerful opponents would be difficult. Undeterred, Nedunchezhiyan is said to have gone ahead and won the battle. The comparison of his party to the king’s victory has now aged well. By emerging as the single-largest party, the TVK has delivered a performance that echoes the spirit of Vijay’s earlier invocation, surpassing all that stood in its way.
(With inputs from Prabhakar Tamilarasu @ Chennai)