A legal challenge was filed in India’s Supreme Court on May 9, 2026, questioning a decision by Tamil Nadu’s Governor Rajendra Arlekar. The Governor had refused to invite C. Joseph Vijay, president of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party and head of the largest party after recent Assembly elections, to form the government.
The petition, filed by retired IPS officer M. Ramasubramani through his lawyer G. Siva Bala Murugan, argued that the Governor’s decision was against the principles of parliamentary democracy and constitutional conventions. It stated that determining whether a political party has majority support should happen in the Assembly, not through private consultations or demands for written proofs from MLAs.
This is the second legal challenge filed within days over the same issue. Earlier, another petition had argued that the Governor must invite the leader of the largest party to form the government and allow them to prove their majority later in the Assembly.