Joseph Vijay Government Wins Trust Vote in Tamil Nadu Assembly with 144 Votes

The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government led by Chief Minister Joseph Vijay successfully won the trust vote in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

In the recently concluded Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, TVK emerged as the single largest party after winning 107 seats while contesting independently. However, the party fell short of the required majority mark of 118 seats needed to form the government on its own.

Following the election results, Vijay was sworn in as Chief Minister on May 10 with the support of Congress, Left parties, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). Along with him, nine ministers also took oath as part of the new cabinet.

Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi had earlier directed Chief Minister Vijay to prove his majority on the Assembly floor before May 13. Accordingly, the trust vote was conducted in the Assembly on Wednesday morning.

Chief Minister Joseph Vijay moved the confidence motion seeking support for his government.

During the debate, Congress MLA Rajesh Kumar, CPM MLA Chellaswamy, VCK MLA Vanniarasu, IUML MLA Shahjahan, and CPI MLA Thali Ramachandran spoke in favor of the confidence motion.

An independent MLA from Mannargudi, who was previously expelled from the AMMK, also extended support to the TVK government.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Bhojarajan and PMK MLA Sowmiya Anbumani announced that they would remain neutral during the voting process.

DMDK MLA Premalatha Vijayakanth and MMK MLA Tamimun Ansari expressed opposition to the government during the discussion.

Within the AIADMK, the Edappadi K. Palaniswami faction opposed the government, while the S.P. Velumani faction extended support to the Vijay-led administration.

Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin strongly criticized the TVK government and announced that the DMK would boycott the trust vote by staging a walkout from the Assembly.

Following the debate, the Assembly doors were closed and voting was conducted in six separate sections.

At the end of the voting process, 144 MLAs voted in favor of the Joseph Vijay-led Tamil Nadu government, while 22 members voted against the motion. Five MLAs chose to remain neutral.

Subsequently, Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar officially announced that the TVK government had won the trust vote in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.