Two days after emerging as the single largest party in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, Vijay met Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Wednesday and formally staked his claim to form the government.

The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) won 108 seats in the 234-member Assembly, falling short of the 118 seats needed for a majority.

The Indian National Congress (INC) has publicly extended its support to TVK, though it is not yet clear which other parties or leaders have backed Vijay.

However, the Congress set a condition for extending its support, urging TVK to ensure that parties with communal ideologies that do not adhere to the Constitution of India are excluded from the alliance.

AICC Tamil Nadu in-charge Girish Chodankar stated, “The Indian National Congress stands for, and is the founding political party for, secular, progressive and welfarist politics in India. It is our constitutional duty to respect, uphold and help fulfil this mandate of the people of Tamil Nadu. Accordingly, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee and the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) have decided to extend its full support to the TVK to form the government.”

“This alliance - founded on mutual respect, appropriate share, and shared responsibility between the two parties is not only for the formation of this government, but also for future elections to the local body organisations, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha,” he added.

According to a PTI report citing party sources, Vijay is likely to be sworn in as Chief Minister on 7 May.

The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), an ally of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), had not yet made a decision on the matter as of Wednesday, according to the report citing party sources.

Meanwhile, despite an invitation from TVK, the Left parties and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) declined to support Vijay’s party. Its sources mentioned TVK had reached out to the VCK, which has won two seats, but the party was still undecided on extending its backing. A senior party functionary stated, “It will be decided by our party president, Thol Thirumavalavan.”

Newly elected leaders from Left parties met MK Stalin at Anna Arivalayam, the headquarters of the DMK. These included CPI(M) representatives R. Chellaswamy and Latha, along with CPI members T. Ramachandran and Marimuthu, all of whom secured victories in the 23 April Assembly elections.

In a similar move, IUML MLAs-elect Syed Farooq Basha SSB and AM Shahjahan also met the DMK president. Following the meetings, legislators from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, and the Indian Union Muslim League reaffirmed their continued support for the DMK.

The counting of votes took place on 4 May, and the final results were officially declared on Tuesday.

(With inputs from PTI)