Tamil Nadu Assembly Election Results 2026 | Congress+CPI+VCK+?: Here is how Vijay's TVK trying to cobble together a stable coalition

With the support of Congress confirmed, TVK, which is 10 seats shy of the 118-member majority mark, has stated the process of reaching out to parties such as CPI, CPI(M) and VCK.

The political landscape of Tamil Nadu has undergone a major transformation after the 2026 Assembly election results, with actor-politician C Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) emerging as the single-largest party.

However, as the path to the Chief Minister’s office for Vijay has become complex, the fledgling party has been forced to take up intense coalition negotiations.

With 108 seats, the TVK has made an unprecedented debut, successfully dismantling the long-standing Dravidian duopoly of the DMK and the AIADMK.

Despite this impressive performance, the party is 10 seats shy of the 118-member mark required for a simple majority in the 234-member House.

The TVK's challenge is further compounded by a constitutional requirement: Vijay, having contested and won in two constituencies —Perambur and Tiruchirappalli (East) — must vacate one of his seats. This necessity effectively reduces the TVK’s floor strength to 107, increasing the gap to the majority mark to 11 seats.

The TVK has begun efforts to bridge the gap before the Governor formally invites a party to form the government.

There are reports that the party leadership has initiated formal back-channel discussions with smaller parties to cobble together a stable coalition.

Responding to Vijay's request, the Congress, which has secured five seats, has extended support to the TVK to form a "secular government" in the State.

The decision to support the TVK was taken at an urgent meeting of the Political Affairs Committee of Tamil Nadu Congress late on Tuesday night. AICC in-charge of Tamil Nadu Affairs Girish Chodankar had called the meeting of the committee to decide on extending support to the TVK

According to reports, the Congress is expected to seek two Cabinet positions along with chairmanships of select government boards as part of the arrangement.

Vijay has reportedly written to parties such as the CPI, CPI(M) and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) seeking their support. These three parties have each won two seats. There has been no formal word from any of these parties so far on their stand on backing a TVK-led government.

In a related development, a majority of the MLAs-elect from the AIADMK have expressed their wish to the party leadership to support the TVK in forming the next government. The idea is said to have been mooted by senior leader C Ve Shanmugam, who has been elected from Mailam constituency.

Meanwhile, Congress decision to walk out of the DMK alliance and extend support to the TVK has been termed as "backstabbing" by the Dravidian party.

"I think this is a very short-sighted, myopic stand taken by the Congress which they will regret..." party spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai has said.

As Tamil Nadu waits to see if Vijay can successfully navigate these coalition waters, the focus remains on the party’s ability to transition from an electoral campaign to a functioning government.