Film star Vijay’s party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, scripted history on Monday by emerging as the single-largest party in the Tamil Nadu elections, poised to win as many as 107 seats in the state Assembly, just short of a majority in the 234-seat House.The TVK, launched just over two years ago by Vijay, humbled the mighty DMK, whose leader and Chief Minister MK Stalin gained high national visibility in the last few years with a leading role in the INDIA bloc as a champion of federalism and a strong and uncompromising voice against the BJP.With all official results yet to be declared, the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) was leading in 74 seats, 81 less than in 2021.This is the first time in the electoral history of Tamil Nadu that a party has posted such a massive victory so soon after it was formed. It took the DMK three elections to oust the Congress in 1967. The AIADMK led by actor MG Ramachandran took five years after its formation to post its first victory in the state.Unlike MGR, who was schooled in the Dravidian ideology in his long years in the DMK, Vijay was not a member of any political party before launching his own, though he claims to be a follower of Periyar and Anna. Behind Vijay’s victory were young voters, women and members of both Christian and Muslim communities, and a chunk of Dalit voters.It is also after many years that a sitting chief minister was unseated. Stalin lost in the constituency that voted him to the Assembly three times since 2011. Vijay won with huge margins in both Perambur in north Chennai and Tiruchirapalli East, two constituencies that he contested. The AIADMK-led alliance, which was pushed to third place, was leading in 53 seats.With two election defeats in a row, AIADMK leader Edappadi Palaniswamy is still to prove he is a fitting successor to Jayalalithaa, though he won his own seat by a margin of 98,110 votes, possibly the highest victory margin in this election. The BJP won the Udhagamangalam seat, its only victory.With a hung House the most likely outcome of the election, Vijay’s father, SA Chandrasekhar, who is also associated with the Tamil film industry, announced that the TVK was open to an alliance with the Congress, which won five seats as part of the DMK-led alliance.Rahul Gandhi was among the early birds to congratulate Vijay on his victory. The Congress had made an outreach to Vijay even while it was in the process of finalising its share of seats with the DMK. The meetings between Congress member Praveen Chakravarthi and Vijay created a visible strain in the SPA. The Congress was accused of using TVK to put pressure on the DMK to part with more seats, and demand power-sharing in the ministry if the alliance won. Vijay also doubted the sincerity of the Congress. Within the Congress too, there was opposition. Eventually the effort was abandoned.For the remaining five seats, the TVK may reach out to one of the smaller parties in the two Dravidian alliances. The PMK, which is the AIADMK alliance, has won five seats, and the late actor Vijaykanth’s party, the DMDK, which is part of the DMK alliance, has won a single seat.