Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 8 : Outgoing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday urged Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to take immediate steps to facilitate the formation of a new government in accordance with the Constitution, stressing that any delay in the process would not be in line with democratic requirements following the recently concluded Assembly elections.
Taking to social media platform X, Stalin said that the existing Legislative Assembly has been dissolved, and it is the responsibility of the democracy that a new government must be formed for the elected Members of the Legislative Assembly.
"The results of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections have been announced, and the Election Commission has released the list of Members of the Legislative Assembly elected by the people. The existing Legislative Assembly has already been dissolved, and His Excellency the Governor has issued the proclamation to that effect. In such a situation, it is not only the compulsion of the times but also the most important duty of democracy that a new government must be formed for the elected Members of the Legislative Assembly to take their oaths of office and to advance the welfare of the state! In this context, on behalf of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), I request that His Excellency the Governor take immediate action to form a new administration in accordance with the Constitution, in order to avoid any delay in the formation of the government," he said.
Stalin's statement comes amid heightened political activity in Tamil Nadu following a fractured mandate, with various political parties engaged in negotiations and efforts to secure numbers for government formation in the 234-member Assembly.
Meanwhile, Vijay's TVK has been working to garner support from other parties to form a government in Tamil Nadu since the verdict delivered a fractured mandate.
The TVK has emerged as the single largest party but fell short of the 118-seat majority required to form a government. To bridge this gap, Vijay has been actively reaching out to Congress, who already extended support, bringing the TVK tally closer to the mark.
Congress has offered conditional support to the TVK's Vijay to form a government in Tamil Nadu and severed its ties with the DMK. With the support of five Congress MLAs, the alliance stands at 112, still six short of the majority mark of 118 in the 234-member assembly.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India (CPI) also held an executive meeting to discuss whether they would support Vijay. They both have two seats each. Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) President Thol Thirumavalavan has also called for a "high-level committee" meeting of the party to take a call on whether to support TVK.
The VCK meeting, via Zoom call, is scheduled to be held at 5 pm today.
CPI, CPI (M) and VCK have two MLAs each. Their support will take the TVK alliance tally to the majority mark.