TVK government wins maiden trust vote with ease as AIADMK rebel group cross-votes

PTI, May 13, 2026, Chennai : The four-day-old TVK government in Tamil Nadu crossed a major hurdle on Wednesday, comfortably winning the trust vote with the support of 25 rebel AIADMK MLAs amid the DMK's walkout and Opposition allegations of horse-trading that were rejected by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay.

In its confidence-boosting win, TVK romped home by a 144:22 margin, with all the 22 naysayers being the AIADMK MLAs owing allegiance to party chief Edappadi K. Palaniswami.

The 25 other party MLAs from the C. Ve. Shanmugam-S. P. Velumani camp voted in favour of the government, as announced by them earlier.

Replying to discussions over the resolution moved by him seeking a vote of confidence, Vijay said his government will always be secular and would continue to implement the welfare schemes launched by previous regimes.

While the main Opposition DMK, with 59 MLAs in the 234-member House, staged a walkout slamming the government, PMK with four MLAs and the lone member of the BJP abstained.

The Vijay-led TVK government won the trust vote also due to the support from the Congress, VCK, Left, IUML and MLA S. Kamaraj, who was expelled from AMMK for supporting TVK.

In the 234-member House, 118 is the simple majority mark and, at the time of voting, TVK — which won 108 seats — had a strength of 105, as one party MLA was barred from voting by the court; Vijay resigned from Tiruchi-East and Speaker J. C. D. Prabhakar cannot vote in the absence of a tie situation.

Amid questions over its stability in the wake of a lack of majority, the win gives the maiden TVK government the much-needed confidence to settle down and get on with governance, even as the ministers, including CM Vijay, are yet to be allotted portfolios.

For the next six months, another floor test may not be held.