AA Edit | Challenges Ahead for CM Vijay in People’s Service

The government of C. Joseph Vijay sailed through the trust vote in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly 10 dramatic days after the results were declared, with the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam garnering the highest number of seats (108) in a House of 234 MLAs. Not only was the status of his regime established as one with a clear majority, but in a vote of 144 MLAs in favour and 22 against, with four abstentions after 60 MLAs walked out, the chief minister’s stature has been enhanced as a leader enjoying support from multiple parties.

Questions will arise over the fact that 25 of the 47 All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLAs rebelled against their party and disobeyed the whip while voting to express confidence in the government. Their legal status will be contested, and it remains to be seen whether they will manage to outmanoeuvre the 1985 anti-defection law or resign their seats and contest on the TVK symbol if their merger with Mr Vijay’s party materialises.

As it stands, the government’s numerical superiority has been established, even if the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, confused by many of the smaller constituents of its pre-poll secular alliance, including the Indian National Congress, extending support to Vijay, has pointed out that nearly two-thirds of the Tamil Nadu electorate did not vote for the TVK. That, however, was the likeliest verdict in a triangular contest in which Mr Vijay dismantled the Dravidian duopoly that ruled the state for 59 years.

Affiliations in India’s coalition politics have always been viewed with suspicion, as they are invariably shaped by voter preference in a first-past-the-post system. The anti-defection law, which is supposed to bring stability to legislatures, has rarely stopped majority governments from emerging after elections and finding ways to stay in power. Legal challenges are not only time-consuming, but the Speaker’s powers are also not always curtailed by judicial intervention.

In effect, Mr Vijay’s tasks and challenges began immediately after the trust vote, even if much political grandstanding occurred in the days following the verdict. The party will ultimately be judged not by the nomenclature surrounding its majority or whether it is termed a coalition government, but by what it delivers to all people, including those who may not have voted for change, as many among Gen Z, women and others did.

Tamil Nadu’s finances have come under sharper focus after the elections, with debt standing at Rs 9.56 lakh crore in 2025 and now crossing Rs 10 lakh crore. While this remains within limits determined by fiscal policy, revenue collections and economic conditions, the state may still struggle to manage expenditure on welfare measures, especially since Mr Vijay came to power promising even more welfare transfers than the traditional Dravidian model.

While his initiative to restore civility in politics by reaching out to friends and foes alike was widely welcomed, his willingness to respond to constructive criticism by revoking the appointment of an astrologer and self-proclaimed public policy expert as officer on special duty is also noteworthy. As an agent of change, he may face enormous challenges, but he carries abundant goodwill along with the charisma shaped by decades of success in the film world. We wish him well as he embarks on serving the people.