DMK to walk out before vote: Udhayanidhi rejects "manufactured majority," lowers threshold for Vijay

Opposition Leader Udhayanidhi Stalin made a strategically significant announcement ahead of the confidence vote: the DMK's 59 MLAs would walk out of the Assembly chamber before voting begins, rather than cast votes against the motion.

"The DMK respects the mandate the people of Tamil Nadu have given," Udhayanidhi told reporters. "But we will not be party to a majority assembled through the inducement of rebel legislators from other parties. This is a manufactured majority, and we will not legitimise it with our presence." He added that the DMK's walkout was a formal political statement, not an absence born of weakness.

The strategic consequence is significant: by removing 59 DMK votes from the equation, the effective majority mark in the 234-seat House drops substantially, making CM Vijay's path to a comfortable win considerably easier. Political analysts noted the move as a rare instance of principled opposition that simultaneously serves the tactical interest of the party.

AIADMK's EPS camp criticised the DMK for "abandoning its role as the principal opposition" and "enabling" the TVK government. Constitutional experts observed that a walkout, while symbolic, carries no binding legal effect on the confidence motion outcome.