TVK functionary moves Supreme Court seeking direction to TN Governor to swear in Vijay as CM

A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court urging it to direct the Governor of Tamil Nadu to invite Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader C Joseph Vijay to form the government in the State..The plea has been filed by K Ezhilarasi, who describes herself as an advocate and an active member of TVK.The petition notes that the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections resulted in a hung House. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won 59 seats, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) won 47 seats and the Indian National Congress won 5 seats. Other parties, including PMK, IUML, CPI, VCK, CPI(M), BJP, DMDK and AMMK, won the remaining seats.TVK emerged as the single largest party with 108 seats in the 234-member Assembly.The party's Chief, Vijay met the Governor on May 7 to stake a claim to form the government. The plea before the Court adds that with the support of the Congress, TVK has the backing of 113 MLAs, five short of the majority mark..However, according to reports, the Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar asked TVK's Chief Vijay to first prove that he has the majority support (backing of 118 MLAs) before he is invited to form the government. The petitioner has questioned this approach.The plea argues that since no pre-poll alliance has secured a majority, the Governor ought to invite TVK, being the single largest party, to form the government and then prove its majority on the floor of the House.“The floor of the House is the only legitimate place to test a majority claim,” the petition states.It further argues that no letter, affidavit or support document given to the Governor can substitute a vote on the floor of the Assembly..The petition relies on Supreme Court judgments in SR Bommai v Union of India, Jagdambika Pal v Union of India, Chandrakant Kavlekar v Union of India, G Parmeshwara v Union of India and Shivraj Singh Chouhan v Speaker, Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly.It has argued that the Governor’s role is only to invite a party to form government, and not to demand full proof of majority before issuing such an invitation.“Requiring TVK to first produce letters from 118 MLAs before issuing an invitation would invert the constitutional sequence,” the plea states.According to the petition, the correct sequence is to invite TVK to form the government, swear in the new regime and then have a floor test conducted to show that the sworn in government has majority support.The petitioner has sought a writ of mandamus from the Court, urging it to direct the Governor to invite Vijay to form the government and swear him in as Chief Minister..An interim application has also been filed seeking to restrain the Governor from inviting any other person to form the government.The plea states that any invitation to a person other than Vijay would be contrary to constitutional principles and would affect the democratic mandate of the people of Tamil Nadu..The petition has been filed through Advocate-on-Record A Lakshminarayanan.