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Chennai: A vote of confidence on the government led by Tamil Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief C. Joseph Vijay was held today, as per the order of the Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar. TVK won the vote with the support of 144 MLAs. This proceeding was live streamed for the first time in the history of the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly.

Although TVK had already secured the numbers needed to form the government even before the swearing-in, the confidence vote turned into a defining moment for AIADMK’s future. Citing allegations that AIADMK’s general secretary Edappadi Palaniswamy attempted to become chief minister with DMK support despite neither party having a majority, senior AIADMK leaders C. V. Shanmugam and S.P. Velumani – leading 25 MLAs – had announced a day ago that they had elected S.P. Velumani as their legislative party leader and would vote in favour of the TVK government in the confidence vote. On the other side, a group of 22 MLAs submitted a petition to the Speaker stating that Edappadi Palaniswamy is the legislative party leader.

TVK, which had won 108 constituencies in the election, had already secured the support needed to form the government from Congress (five MLAs), and CPI, CPIM, VCK, and IUML (two MLAs each) even before taking office.

TVK’s leader, who won two constituencies, retained the Perambur seat and resigned from the Trichy East seat. The Madras high court on Tuesday ordered that the TVK MLA from Tirupattur – where TVK candidate Seenivasa Sethupathi R. had defeated DMK’s K.R. Periyakaruppan by a single vote – could not participate in the confidence vote, as a legal challenge against the result was pending.

Since TVK MLA Prabhakar J.C.D. from Thousand Lights constituency was elected as Speaker, the number of TVK MLAs on the floor stood at 105. Combined with the allied parties that had pledged unconditional outside support before the........

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