Chennai, August 07, 2026

The divorce proceedings involving Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president C. Joseph Vijay and his wife, Sangeetha Sornalingam, have officially come to an end after Sangeetha withdrew her petition before the family court. The development concludes months of legal proceedings that had attracted public attention alongside Vijay's rising political career.

Sangeetha attended Friday's hearing through video conferencing and informed the court of her decision to withdraw the divorce petition. She had initially approached the Chengalpattu family court in February this year, seeking dissolution of her marriage. The case had witnessed multiple adjournments throughout the year. During a hearing on June 15, she had already expressed her intention to withdraw the petition through video conferencing, following which the matter was posted for August 7. In an earlier hearing held last month, the proceedings were deferred after neither Vijay nor Sangeetha appeared before the court. On several previous occasions as well, both remained absent while their respective lawyers represented them, explaining that they were unable to attend the hearings in person.

With Sangeetha's formal withdrawal of the petition on Friday, the family court closed the case. In her original plea, she had cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for seeking divorce. She had also requested permanent alimony and sought permission to continue residing at the couple's matrimonial home in Neelankarai, Chennai.

Vijay and Sangeetha have shared a relationship spanning nearly three decades. They were married on August 25, 1999, in a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony in Chennai. Their son was born in August 2000, followed by the birth of their daughter in 2005. Speculation about difficulties in their marriage first surfaced in 2023 after Sangeetha was absent from several important public appearances involving Vijay. Although those reports were denied at the time, the discussions resurfaced in 2025 when she did not attend major political events organised by the TVK, including the party's second state conference.

The legal proceedings concluded at a time when Vijay's political influence has grown significantly in Tamil Nadu. The TVK emerged as the single largest party in the state Assembly elections, ending the decades-long political dominance of the DMK and AIADMK. The party later formed the government with the support of the Congress, CPI, CPI(M), VCK and IUML, resulting in Tamil Nadu's first coalition government in decades. The closure of the divorce case now brings an end to a chapter that had remained under public and legal scrutiny for several months.