AIADMK supremo Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday disqualified as many as 25 of its MLAs who had voted in favour of TVK chief and Tamil Nadu CM C. Joseph Vijay at a trust vote earlier today.
The party said that the rebel MLAs, led by C. Ve Shanmugam and S.P. Velumani, had voted against the party whip issued on Tuesday, which ordered that they vote against the TVK-led government.
"We have submitted a petition today seeking their disqualification. If (the rebels) vote against the whip issued by the party, the anti-defection law will apply to them," senior leaders of the AIADMK told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.
#WATCH | Chennai, Tamil Nadu: AIADMK MLA Thalavai N. Sundaram says, "The 10th Schedule for disqualification clearly mentions that the political party is the deciding authority for the appointment of the Whip. So, general secretary of AIADMK, Edappadi Palaniswami, is the authority… pic.twitter.com/E1EzGMxxn1
— ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2026
This comes hours after Vijay passed his first hurdle in the Legislative Assembly—the trust vote—with a resounding 144 'ayes'.
The Vijay-led TVK was reduced to 105 MLAs at the start of the voting, as the CM gave up one of the two seats that he had won in the 2026 polls, one was the Speaker, and one MLA was legally barred from voting after his victory was challenged.
The 144-MLA win comprises not just the TVK and its allies—five Congress MLAs, and two each from the Left parties and the IUML—but also the 25-member rebel faction of the AIADMK. 22 voted against them, while five MLAs had abstained from voting.
Also, led by M.K. Stalin's son Udayanidhi Stalin, 59 MLAs walked out of the Assembly ahead of the trust voting, after delivering a speech criticising the TVK-led government.
He later hit out at Vijay for meeting the AIADMK rebels on May 12, questioning whether what happened was “change” or “exchange".
Palaniswami had earlier hit out at the rebel faction for what he termed "betrayal", and had said that the MLAs had gone “in the wrong direction", acting deliberately for “personal gains".
However, Shanmugam later responded to EPS' claims, stating that the latter had "stooped low and forgotten the basic principles of the AIADMK" after the election loss.
#WATCH | Chennai, Tamil Nadu | AIADMK MLA CV Shanmugam says, "There is a demand in the party, even before the election - all who have left or all who were expelled to be readmitted in the party so that the party can be strengthened and win the election. But he (EPS) has no such… pic.twitter.com/5MaMgclzTX
— ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2026
"I have not betrayed. Our party's basic principle is to wipe out the DMK. For the past 50 years, we have been fighting against the DMK ... (Jayalalithaa's) death was caused due to DMK's false case, she was imprisoned and we lost her. But he forgot everything ... You can say who the betrayer is," he added.
