Will Thalapathy Vijay’s CM chair be snatched away? 4 petitions filed simultaneously in the High Court

As explosive as the beginning of actor-turned-politician Thalapathy Vijay’s political innings was, legal problems are now arising for him at the same speed. The victory of Vijay, who came to power by leading his party Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) to a landslide victory in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, has now been challenged in the High Court. Not one or two, but four petitions have been filed against Vijay in the court. In such a situation, the discussion has intensified in the political circles whether their problems are going to increase.

Questions raised on victory from Perambur seat

According to a recent report by ‘Bar & Bench’, the victory from Perambur assembly constituency has been challenged in the Madras High Court against TVK founder C. Joseph Vijay. So far, four separate petitions related to this matter have been filed in the High Court. Interestingly, out of these four petitions, two petitions were filed by the main opposition party DMK (DMK) leader R.D. Shekhar and Indigo have come from Irudayraj, while the remaining two petitions have been filed by local voters.

History was created by winning elections on two seats each

Vijay’s political entry in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections was very spectacular. He contested from both the high-profile assembly seats of Perambur and Tiruchirappalli East (Trichy East) and won both the places by huge votes. However, due to the requirement of giving up one seat as per the rules, he later retained the Perambur seat and resigned from the Trichy East seat. Now his opponents have targeted his victory from this Perambur seat.

Talking about the election results of Perambur seat, Vijay defeated senior DMK leader R.D. Shekhar was defeated by a huge margin of 53,715 votes. In this election, Vijay got a total of 1,20,365 votes, whereas Shekhar got only 66,650 votes. At the same time, DMK leader Irudayraj has also demanded from the court in his petition that the upcoming assembly by-election to be held on Trichy East seat should be immediately stayed.

Is the Chief Minister’s chair in danger?

After four back-to-back petitions were filed in the High Court, the question in everyone’s mind is whether Vijay will have to leave the post of Chief Minister? According to legal experts and rules, at present there is no immediate threat to Vijay’s chair. Mere filing of an election petition in the High Court does not have any immediate legal effect on the post of a Chief Minister or his legislature. Until the court conducts a detailed hearing of the entire matter and declares the election results completely void, Vijay will continue his work as Chief Minister and MLA.

Allegations of conspiracy to topple the government and horse trading of MLAs

This legal dispute has come to light at a time when there is a huge uproar in the politics of Tamil Nadu over allegations of ‘horse trading’ i.e. horse-trading of MLAs. The ruling party TVK alleges that the opposition parties are conspiring to topple their government and efforts are being made to break their MLAs. On the other hand, DMK has also hit back and alleged that Chief Minister Vijay and MDMK leader Vaiko are together giving various kinds of inducements to their MLAs. After the court’s intervention in this matter, the politics of Tamil Nadu is expected to heat up further in the coming days.