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	Party	Margin	Runner-upa	Partya
Madras North	A. V. P. Asaithambi	DMK	45,103	K. Manoharan	AIADMK
Madras Central	P. Ramachandran	NCO	73,411	K. Raja Mohammad	AIADMK
Madras South	R. Venkataraman	INC	14,829	Murasoli Maran	DMK
Sriperumbudur	S. Jaganathan	AIADMK	45,932	T. P. Elumalai	NCO
Chengalpattu	R. Mohanarangam	AIADMK	35,639	Era. Sezhiyan	DMK
Arakkonam	O. V. Alagesa Mudaliar	INC	57,864	N. Veeraswamy	DMK
Vellore	V. Dhandayuthapani	NCO	3,161	Abdul Samad	IND
Tiruppattur	C. N. Viswanathan	Janata party	98,666	C. K. Chinnaraj Gounder	AIADMK
Vandavasi	Venugopal Gounder	AIADMK	81,132	Durai Murugan	DMK
Tindivanam	M. R. Lakshmi Narayanan	INC	49,485	V. Krishnamoorthy	DMK
Cuddalore	G. Bhuvarahan	INC	89,057	S. Radhakrishnan	NCO
Chidambaram	A. Murugesan	AIADMK	109,234	N. Rajangam	DMK
Dharmapuri	Vazhappady K. Ramamurthy	INC	105,686	P. Ponnuswamy	NCO
Krishnagiri	P. V. Periasamy	AIADMK	119,228	M. Kamalanathan	DMK
Rasipuram	B. Devarajan	INC	133,438	Jothi Venkatachalam	NCO
Salem	P. Kannan	AIADMK	79,604	K. Rajaram	DMK
Tiruchengode	R. Kolanthaivelu	AIADMK	128,180	M. Muthusamy	DMK
Nilgiris	P. S. Ramalingam	AIADMK	59,346	M. K. Nanja Gowder	NCO
Gobichettipalayam	K. S. Ramaswamy	INC	105,458	N. K. Karuppuswamy	NCO
Coimbatore	Parvathi Krishnan	CPI	21,178	S. V. Lakshmanan	NCO
Pollachi	K. A. Raju	AIADMK	124,194	C. T. Dhandapani	DMK
Palani	C. Subramaniam	INC	221,768	K. N. Saminathan	DMK
Dindigul	K. Maya Thevar	AIADMK	169,224	A. Balasubramaniam	CPM
Madurai	R. V. Swaminathan	INC	134,345	P. Ramamurthi	CPM
Periyakulam	S. Ramasamy	AIADMK	204,392	Palanivel Rajan	DMK
Karur	K. Gopal	INC	145,520	M. Meenakshi Sundaram	NCO
Tiruchirappalli	M. Kalyanasundaram	CPI	76,045	Y. Venkateswara Dikshidar	NCO
Perambalur	A. Asokaraj	AIADMK	180,027	J. S. Raju	DMK
Mayiladuthurai	N. Kudanthai Ramalingam	INC	74,265	S. Govindasamy	NCO
Nagapattinam	S. G. Murugaiyan	CPI	40,810	M. Thazhai Karunanithi	DMK
Thanjavur	S. D. Somasundaram	AIADMK	97,743	L. Ganesan	DMK
Pudukkottai	V. S. Elanchezhiyan	AIADMK	223,615	V. Vairava Thevar	NCO
Sivaganga	P. Thiagarajan	AIADMK	211,533	R. Ramanathan Chettiar	NCO
Ramanathapuram	P. Anbalagan	AIADMK	175,130	M. S. K. Sathiyendran	DMK
Sivakasi	V. Jeyalakshmi	INC	114,848	G. Ramanujuam	NCO
Tirunelveli	V. Arunachalam	AIADMK	182,693	Samsuddin alias K. M. Kathiravan	DMK
Tenkasi	M. Arunachalam	INC	186,878	S. Rajagopalan	NCO
Tiruchendur	K. T. Kosalram	INC	120,190	Edwin Devadasan	NCO
Nagercoil	Kumari Ananthan	NCO	74,236	M. Moses	INC

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