The Vijay Rupani government passed the floor test in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday. 172 MLAs were present during the vote. TVK received 144 votes.
A simple majority in the 234-member Assembly requires the support of 118 MLAs. Vijay won the Trichy East and Perambur seats. He resigned from Perambur after becoming Chief Minister. Tirupattur MLA Srinivasa Sethupathi won by a single vote. He was not allowed to vote because the case was pending before the Madras High Court.
This brought the number of MLAs in the House to 232. TVK was supported by 25 rebel MLAs from the 47-member AIADMK, as well as rebel MLAs from the Congress, CPI, CPI(M), VCK, IUML and AMMK.
The confidence motion received 22 votes against, all from the remaining AIADMK MLAs. The DMK, with its 59 MLAs, walked out of the House. Five MLAs (PMK four and BJP one) abstained. The Speaker abstained.
Split in AIADMK
Cross-voting has also led to a split within the AIADMK. The party has split into two factions, led by Palaniswami and C.V. Shanmugam. Opposition leader Udhayanidhi Stalin questioned Vijay’s meeting with rebel AIADMK MLAs.
He asked, “Is this meeting about change or bargaining? Is this your clean government? The TVK government should practice real governance, not Instagram reels.”
Chief Minister Vijay Singh replied, “Our government will work at a secular pace, not engage in horse trading.”
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Edited by: Bhoomi Goyal
