Vijay’s path to power runs through 118 signatures
TVK emerged first in Tamil Nadu, but Governor Rajendra Arlekar is making proof of majority the price of entry — and that shifts leverage to smaller parties.
Tamil Nadu’s post-election fight is no longer about who finished first; it is about who can prove 118 MLAs. According to 
Mint, Governor Rajendra Arlekar told TVK chief Vijay to return with 118 signatures before any swearing-in can happen, after Vijay met him twice in two days to stake a claim with Congress backing. 
The Hindu reported the same core demand and added that the Congress has said yes, while the AIADMK has ruled out support.
The leverage is with the Governor, not the largest party
This is the critical shift: TVK may be the single largest party, but it does not automatically control the government. In a hung Assembly, the Governor can insist on evidence of majority support before inviting a leader to form the ministry, and Arlekar is using that discretion to force Vijay to show arithmetic, not momentum. The Hindu said TVK won 108 seats and, after accounting for Vijay’s dual-seat victory, the effective tally falls further; that leaves the party dependent on allies and defectors rather than its own mandate.
That matters because it changes the bargaining structure across Chennai. TVK can still win if it converts its plurality into a stable bloc, but the price of doing so is now visible to every small party and every legislator on the fence. The Governor is effectively telling Vijay: bring the numbers, or keep negotiating.
AIADMK’s refusal narrows Vijay’s options
The immediate loser is the AIADMK, if only because it is not in the first round of government formation despite being the other major pole in state politics. The Hindu reported that senior AIADMK leader K.P. Munusamy rejected support for TVK, shutting the easiest route to a majority if AIADMK legislators stayed unified. That leaves Vijay chasing a patchwork majority through Congress, smaller parties, or individual MLAs — a far more fragile base for a new chief minister.
DMK, meanwhile, benefits from the uncertainty even as it sits out the main contest. A hung House creates room for the opposition to watch TVK stumble, and it increases the cost of any alliance that looks opportunistic. For now, the main prize is not office but time: every hour that TVK fails to lock down 118 makes the Governor’s position harder to overturn.
What to watch next
The next decision point is simple: can Vijay produce 118 signatures, or can he extract enough support from the Congress, VCK, CPI(M), CPI, and possibly AIADMK rebels to make the claim stick? Mint said the Governor wants proof before proceeding, while The Hindu noted that parties such as VCK, CPI and CPI(M) are being approached. The immediate test is not TVK’s popularity; it is whether its coalition math survives contact with 
India’s constitutional gatekeepers and the hard bargaining of coalition politics on Global Politics.
