Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, on Wednesday (June 3, 2026), announced that the party has allocated to its ally the Congress, the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Tamil Nadu, for which bypolls are scheduled to be held on June 18.

The TVK’s decision to forgo an opportunity to send its first nominee to the Rajya Sabha and instead allot it to its post-poll ally, the Congress, which has only five MLAs in the State Legislative Assembly, surprised many in the ruling party.

C.Ve. Shanmugam’s resignation

Mr. Vijay’s announcement came shortly after a Congress delegation led by All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar met him at the Secretariat in Chennai and requested him to allocate the Rajya Sabha seat, which fell vacant following the resignation of AIADMK leader C. Ve. Shanmugam, to the Congress.

Mr. Shanmugam, who was elected to the Upper House of Parliament in June 2022, resigned from the Rajya Sabha on May 7, 2026 after being elected as MLA from the Mailam constituency in Villupuram district in the recently-concluded Tamil Nadu Assembly polls. The tenure of this Rajya Sabha seat ends in June 2028.

Just ahead of the Assembly election, the Congress had secured a Rajya Sabha seat when it was part of the DMK-led alliance. Its nominee, Christopher Tilak, was elected to the Upper House.

With this, the Congress’ representation from Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha is likely to increase to three, the highest in recent decades. Veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister P. Chidambaram was elected from Tamil Nadu in 2022.

Girish Chodankar’s request

Earlier, while speaking to journalists after meeting the Chief Minister, Mr. Chodankar said he had requested that the Rajya Sabha seat be allotted to the Congress as the party wanted to strengthen its presence in the Upper House. “We have impressed upon the Chief Minister that we need to strengthen our Rajya Sabha representation,” he said.

To a question on whether there was any discussion on inviting the TVK to join the INDIA bloc and attend its meeting on June 8, Mr. Chodankar said no such discussion was held with the Chief Minister.

Responding to a question on whether the DMK would continue to remain a part of the INDIA bloc, Mr. Chodankar said the DMK was very much part of the alliance and added he did not wish to comment further. He also said Mr. Vijay was unable to meet the Congress leaders in New Delhi during his recent two-day visit to the national capital “due to a mismatch in schedules.”