Actor Joseph Vijay’s TVK has sought the support of DMK allies Congress, CPM and CPI to form the government in Tamil Nadu.

Vijay’s fledgling TVK, which has won 108 seats, needs the support of 10 MLAs to reach the majority mark of 118. While the Congress has five MLAs, the CPM and the CPI have two each. Thol Thirumavalavan’s VCK, which too has two MLAs and is a DMK ally, has already indicated that it would follow in the footsteps of the two Left parties.

If these four parties choose to back Vijay, the TVK will have one vote more than the required 118 in the House.

In New Delhi, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal announced that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi had authorised the party’s Tamil Nadu unit to take the “final decision” on Vijay’s request, keeping in mind the “sentiments of the state as reflected in the electoral verdict”.

Venugopal said the Congress was “determined not to allow the BJP and its proxies to run the state government in any manner”. The AIADMK-led alliance, which includes the BJP, has won 53 seats while the DMK-led alliance has won 73.

A senior state Congress functionary told The Telegraph that the “mood” among many leaders was to go with Vijay.

A DMK spokesperson, Saravanan, called the Congress "backstabbers" while speaking to NDTV on Tuesday night.

Vijay, elected unanimously as TVK legislature party leader on Tuesday, plans to meet the governor on Wednesday to stake claim to form the next government. He is expected to seek a fortnight’s time before he takes a floor test in the Assembly.

In a post on X, Rahul has written that he spoke to Vijay on Monday and congratulated him on the TVK’s “spectacular victory”, which reflected the “growing voice of the youth”. On Tuesday, Vijay thanked Rahul.

A group of state Congress functionaries met DMK leader M.K. Stalin, too, on Tuesday.

Thirumavalavan said his party, while being committed to the DMK-led alliance, would work in close coordination with the CPI and the CPM in Tamil Nadu in the coming days.

The dilemma of those disposed to backing Vijay involves the question whether a letter of support from them to the TVK would lead to a reconfiguration of the DMK-led alliance, whose members are part of the INDIA bloc at the Centre.

A churning in the AIADMK-led alliance on the subject is not ruled out, either. The PMK, which has four seats, is seen as a likely prospect to support the TVK.

An evening release from the governor said he had accepted Stalin’s resignation as chief minister.

When the 30 rounds of counting ended at the Tiruppattur constituency in Sivaganga district in the early hours of Tuesday, incumbent MLA and DMK minister K.R. Periyakaruppan had lost by just one vote.

His TVK rival, R. Sreenivasa Sethupathy, polled 83,375 votes to Periyakaruppan’s 83,374.

In the evening, Stalin drove to his constituency of Kolathur in Chennai and thanked the voters despite his defeat.

As chief minister, Stalin had nurtured Kolathur with care, apart from delivering double-digit economic growth for Tamil Nadu, the highest among the states, over the last two years.

Stalin said his party took poll victories and defeats with “equanimity”, and promised that the DMK’s ideological and political work for the betterment of the people would continue.