EK Palaniswami won a floor test to remain Tamil Nadu chief minister when lawmakers today voted in his favour.
The Sasikala acolyte needed the votes of at least 117 MLAs to win the trust vote. As many as 122 MLAs voted in his favour.
Palaniswami's win means the waning of the political star of caretaker chief minister O Panneerselvam, who also belongs to the AIADMK.
Close to 100 opposition lawmakers were missing after violence and chaos over a demand for secret voting.
But the trust vote may only be the first of many battles that the 63-year-old Chief Minister will have to fight.
O Panneerselvam has promised that he had lost the battle, not the war, and would go back to the people.
Palaniswami, 63, is the proxy of AIADMK chief VK Sasikala who could not become Chief Minister because the Supreme Court convicted her for corruption and sent her to jail.
The Chief Minister had to prove that at least 117 legislators in the 234-member state assembly back him.
But the numbers changed in Mr Palaniswami's favour once the Speaker evicted DMK's 88 members and the Congress' eight members also walked out in protest.
This reduced the effective strength of the house to 134, also lowering the number of votes that the Chief Minister needed to hold on to his seat.
