1977 Indian general election in Tamil Nadu

For State Assembly election, see 1977 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election.

Indian general election in Tamil Nadu, 1977

←  1971 16–20 March 1977 [1] 1980  →
39 (of 542) seats in the Lok Sabha
Registered	27,187,417
Turnout	18,252,182 (67.13%) 4.69%
First party Second party   Leader M. G. Ramachandran M. Karunanidhi Party AIADMK DMK Alliance Congress Front Janata alliance Leader's seat Did not contest Did not contest Seats won 34 5 Seat change 21 19 Popular vote 10,164,615 6,479,436 Percentage 56.91% 36.28% Swing 38.97% 29.40%
1977 Election map (by constituencies) Green = INC+ and Blue = JP+
Prime Minister before election Indira Gandhi INC(R) Prime Minister after election Morarji Desai JP

The 1977 Indian general election polls in Tamil Nadu were held for 39 seats in the state. The result was a big victory for Indian National Congress under Indira Gandhi and its allies All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Communist Party of India winning 34 seats, while Janata Party and its allies Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Indian National Congress (Organisation) won only 5 seats. The Janata Party ended up winning this election. After the election, the AIADMK ended up supporting the Janata Party under Morarji Desai. In 1979, AIADMK continued to support Janata Party, by supporting Charan Singh, which resulted in the appointment of two AIADMK cabinet members.

Seat Allotment

AIADMK-led Alliance

No.	Party		Election Symbol	Leader	Seats
1.		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		M. G. Ramachandran	20
2.		Indian National Congress (R)		Indira Gandhi	15
3.		Communist Party of India		M. Kalyanasundaram	3
4.		Indian Union Muslim League		K. M. Kader Mohideen	1

Janata Alliance

No.	Party		Election Symbol	Leader	Seats
1.		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		M. Karunanidhi	19
2.		Indian National Congress (Organization)		P. Ramachandran	18
3.		Communist Party of India (Marxist)		A. Balasubramaniam	2

List of Candidates

Constituency
		AIADMK+			DMK+
1	Madras North		AIADMK	K. M. Manoharan		DMK	A. V. P. Asaithambi
2	Madras Central		AIADMK	K. M. Raja Mohamed		INC(O)	P. Ramachandran
3	Madras South		INC(R)	Ramaswamy Venkataraman		DMK	Murasoli Maran
4	Sriperumbudur (SC)		AIADMK	S. M. Jaganathan		INC(O)	T. P. Elumalai
5	Chengalpattu		AIADMK	R. M. Mohanarangam		DMK	Era Sezhiyan
6	Arakkonam		INC(R)	O. V. Alagesan		DMK	Arcot N. Veeraswami
7	Vellore		Ind.	Abdul Samad		INC(O)	V. Dhandayuthapani
8	Tiruppattur		AIADMK	C. K. M. Chinnaraje Gounder		DMK	C. N. Visvanathan
9	Wandiwash		AIADMK	M. Venugopal Gounder		DMK	Durai Murugan
10	Tindivanam		INC(R)	M. R. Lakshmi Narayanan		DMK	V. Krishnamoorthy
11	Cuddalore		INC(R)	G. Bhuvaraghan		INC(O)	S. Radhakrishnan
12	Chidambaram (SC)		AIADMK	Murugesan A. M.		DMK	Rajangam N.
13	Dharmapuri		INC(R)	Ramamurthy K.		INC(O)	Ponnuswami P.
14	Krishnagiri		AIADMK	Periasamy P. V. M.		DMK	Kamalanathan M.
15	Rasipuram (SC)		INC(R)	Devarajan B.		INC(O)	Jothi Venkatachalam
16	Salem		AIADMK	Kannan P. M.		DMK	Rajaram K.
17	Tiruchengode		AIADMK	R. Kolanthaivelu		DMK	Muthusamy M.
18	Nilgiris		AIADMK	P. S. Ramalingam		INC(O)	Nanja Gowder M. K.
19	Gobichettipalayam		INC(R)	K. S. Ramaswamy		INC(O)	Karuppuswamy N. K.
20	Coimbatore		CPI	Parvathi Krishnan		INC(O)	Lakshmanan S. V.
21	Pollachi (SC)		AIADMK	Raju K. A. M.		DMK	Dhandapani C. T.
22	Palani		INC(R)	Chidambaram Subramaniam		DMK	Saminathan K. N.
23	Dindigul		AIADMK	Maya Thevar		CPI(M)	A. Balasubramanyam
24	Madurai		INC(R)	R. V. Swaminathan		CPI(M)	P. Ramamurthi
25	Periyakulam		AIADMK	Ramasamy S. M.		DMK	Palanivel Rajan
26	Karur		INC(R)	Gopal K.		INC(O)	Meenakshisundaram M.
27	Tiruchirappalli		CPI	M. Kalyanasundaram		INC(O)	Y. Venkateswara Dikshidar
28	Perambalur (SC)		AIADMK	Asokaraj A. M.		DMK	J. S. Raju
29	Mayiladuturai		INC(R)	Kudanthai N. Ramalingam		INC(O)	Govindasamy S.
30	Nagapattinam (SC)		CPI	Muruguaiyan S. G.		DMK	Thazhai Karunnanithi M.
31	Thanjavur		AIADMK	S. D. Somasundaram		DMK	L. Ganesan
32	Pudukkottai		AIADMK	V. S. M. Elanchezhian		INC(O)	V. Vairava Thevar
33	Sivaganga		AIADMK	P. Thiagarajan M.		INC(O)	R. Ramanathan Chettiar
34	Ramanathapuram		AIADMK	P. M. Anbalagan		DMK	M. S. K. Sathiyandran
35	Sivakasi		INC(R)	V. Jayalakshmi		INC(O)	G. Ramanujam
36	Tirunelveli		AIADMK	V. M. Arunachalam		DMK	Samsuddin alias Kathiravan K. M.
37	Tenkasi (SC)		INC(R)	M. Arunachalam		INC(O)	S. Rajagopalan
38	Tiruchendur		INC(R)	K. T. Kosalram		INC(O)	Devadasan Edwin
39	Nagercoil		INC(R)	M. Moses		INC(O)	Kumari Ananthan

Voting and results

Election map of results based on parties. Colours are based on the results table on the left

Alliance		Party		Popular Vote	Percentage	Swing	Seats won	Seat Change
	AIADMK+		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	5,365,076	30.04%	new party	17	new party
			Indian National Congress	3,977,306	22.27%	9.76%	14	5
			Communist Party of India	822,233	4.60%	0.83%	3	1
			Total	10,164,615	56.91%	38.97%	34	21
	DMK+		Indian National Congress (Organisation)	3,156,116	17.67%	12.76%	3	2
			Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	3,323,320	18.61%	16.64%	2	21
			Total	6,479,436	36.28%	29.40%	5	19
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)			279,081	1.56%	0.08%	0
	Republican Party of India			3,809	0.02%		0
	Independents			932,966	5.22%	3.06%	0
Total				17,859,907	100.00%		39
Valid Votes				17,859,907	97.85%
Invalid Votes				392,275	2.15%
Total Votes				18,252,182	100.00%
Registered Voters/Turnout				27,187,417	67.13%	4.69%

List of Elected MPs

Constituency		Winner					Runner-up					Margin
		Candidate	Party		Votes	%	Candidate	Party		Votes	%	Votes	%
1	Madras North	A. V. P. Asai Thambi		DMK	250,852	54.26	K. Manoharan		AIADMK	205,749	44.51	45,103	9.75
2	Madras Central	P. Ramachandran		INC(O)	259,437	56.52	K. Raja Mohamed		AIADMK	186,026	40.52	73,411	16.00
3	Madras South	R. Venkataraman		INC(R)	241,033	50.79	Murasoli Maran		DMK	226,204	47.66	14,829	3.13
4	Sriperumbudur (SC)	S. Jaganathan		AIADMK	239,632	53.09	T. P. Elumalai		INC(O)	193,700	42.91	45,932	10.18
5	Chengalpattu	R. Mohanarangam		AIADMK	236,818	52.59	Era Sezhiyan		DMK	201,179	44.68	35,639	7.91
6	Arakkonam	O. V. Alagesan		INC(R)	243,818	52.40	N. Veeraswami		DMK	185,954	39.96	57,864	12.44
7	Vellore	V. Dhandayuthapani		INC(O)	220,994	49.22	Abdul Samad		IND	217,833	48.51	3,161	0.71
8	Tiruppattur	C. N. Viswanathan		DMK	257,322	60.06	C. K. Chinnaraje Gounder		AIADMK	158,656	37.03	98,666	23.03
9	Wandiwash	Venugopal Gounder		AIADMK	267,930	58.41	Durai Murugan		DMK	186,798	40.72	81,132	17.69
10	Tindivanam	M. R. Lakshminarayanan		INC(R)	233,155	53.82	V. Krishnamoorthy		DMK	183,670	42.40	49,485	11.42
11	Cuddalore	G. Bhuvarahan		INC(R)	231,128	55.75	S. Radhakrishnan		INC(O)	142,071	34.27	89,057	21.48
12	Chidambaram (SC)	A. Murugesan		AIADMK	278,406	62.20	N. Rajangam		DMK	169,172	37.80	109,234	24.40
13	Dharmapuri	K. Ramamurthy		INC(R)	239,908	60.25	P. Ponnuswami		INC(O)	134,222	33.71	105,686	26.54
14	Krishnagiri	P. V. Periasamy		AIADMK	222,979	65.64	M. Kamalanathan		DMK	103,751	30.54	119,228	35.10
15	Rasipuram (SC)	B. Devarajan		INC(R)	275,212	62.30	Jothivenkatachallum		INC(O)	141,774	32.09	133,438	30.21
16	Salem	P. Kannan		AIADMK	254,138	58.71	K. Rajaram		DMK	174,534	40.32	79,604	18.39
17	Tiruchengode	R. Kolanthaivelu		AIADMK	303,738	59.58	M. Muthusamy		DMK	175,558	34.44	128,180	25.14
18	Nilgiris	P. S. Ramalingam		AIADMK	241,777	55.85	M. K. Nanja Gowder		INC(O)	182,431	42.14	59,346	13.71
19	Gobichettipalayam	K. S. Ramaswamy		INC(R)	255,120	58.58	N. K. Karuppuswamy		INC(O)	149,662	34.37	105,458	24.21
20	Coimbatore	Parvathi Krishnan		CPI	267,424	52.06	S. V. Lakshmanan		INC(O)	246,246	47.94	21,178	4.12
21	Pollachi (SC)	K. A. Raju		AIADMK	259,388	64.48	C. T. Dhandapani		DMK	135,194	33.61	124,194	30.87
22	Palani	C. Subramaniam		INC(R)	351,897	71.70	K. N. Saminathan		DMK	130,129	26.51	221,768	45.19
23	Dindigul	K. Maya Thevar		AIADMK	283,341	59.60	A. Balasubramanyam		CPI(M)	114,117	24.00	169,224	35.60
24	Madurai	R. V. Swaminathan		INC(R)	299,309	62.13	P. Ramamurthi		CPI(M)	164,964	34.24	134,345	27.89
25	Periyakulam	S. Ramasamy		AIADMK	328,100	69.65	M. Palanivel Rajan		DMK	123,708	26.26	204,392	43.39
26	Karur	K. Gopal		INC(R)	315,259	62.26	M. Meenakshisundaram		INC(O)	169,739	33.52	145,520	28.74
27	Tiruchirappalli	M. Kalyanasundaram		CPI	276,390	57.10	Y. Venkateswara Dikshidar		INC(O)	200,345	41.39	76,045	15.71
28	Perambalur (SC)	A. Asokaraj		AIADMK	326,046	68.62	J. S. Raju		DMK	146,019	30.73	180,027	37.89
29	Mayiladuturai	N. Kudanthai Ramalingam		INC(R)	272,202	55.94	S. Govindasamy		INC(O)	197,937	40.68	74,265	15.26
30	Nagapattinam (SC)	S. G. Murugaiyan		CPI	278,419	53.95	M. Thazhai Karunnanithi		DMK	237,609	46.05	40,810	7.90
31	Thanjavur	S. D. Somasundaram		AIADMK	289,059	60.17	L. Ganesan		DMK	191,316	39.83	97,743	20.34
32	Pudukkottai	V. S. Elanchezhian		AIADMK	342,120	65.27	V. Vairava Thevar		INC(O)	118,505	22.61	223,615	42.66
33	Sivaganga	P. Thiagarajan		AIADMK	338,999	71.30	R. Ramanathan Chettiar		INC(O)	127,466	26.81	211,533	44.49
34	Ramanathapuram	P. Anbalagan		AIADMK	297,612	67.62	M. S. K. Sathiyandran		DMK	122,482	27.83	175,130	39.79
35	Sivakasi	V. Jayalakshmi		INC(R)	271,568	54.53	G. Ramanujam		INC(O)	156,720	31.47	114,848	23.06
36	Tirunelveli	V. Arunachalam		AIADMK	304,562	69.82	K. M. Samsuddin Alias Kathiravan		DMK	121,869	27.94	182,693	41.88
37	Tenkasi (SC)	M. Arunachalam		INC(R)	305,069	69.23	S. Rajagopalan		INC(O)	118,193	26.82	186,876	42.41
38	Tiruchendur	K. T. Kosalaram		INC(R)	272,338	61.08	Edwin Devadasan		INC(O)	152,148	34.13	120,190	26.95
39	Nagercoil	Kumari Ananthan		INC(O)	244,526	56.76	M. Moses		INC(R)	170,290	39.53	74,236	17.23

Post-election Union Council of Ministers from Tamil Nadu

While there were no members from Tamil Nadu in Morarji Desai's Administration, Charan Singh appointed two AIADMK members to his cabinet, making it the first time a non-Congress Dravidian Party member making it to the council of ministers at the national level.

Cabinet Ministers (Charan Singh Administration)

Minister	Party	Lok Sabha Constituency/Rajya Sabha	Portfolios
Aravinda Bala Pajanor	AIADMK	Pondicherry
Satyavani Muthu	AIADMK	Rajya Sabha

See also

• Elections in Tamil Nadu

References

1. "India - Date of Elections: March 16 to 20, 1977" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 April 2022.

Bibliography

• Volume I, 1977 Indian general election, 6th Lok Sabha

External links

• Website of Election Commission of India
• CNN-IBN Lok Sabha Election History