1998 Indian general election in Tamil Nadu

Indian general election in Tamil Nadu, 1998

←  1996 February 1998 1999  →
39 (of 543) seats in the Lok Sabha
Registered	4,55,77,788
Turnout	2,64,10,702 (57.95%) 8.98%
First party Second party   Leader J. Jayalalithaa M. Karunanidhi Party AIADMK DMK Alliance NDA UF+LF Seats won 30 9 Seat change 30 30 Popular vote 1,21,69,812 1,09,37,809 Percentage 47.53% 42.72% Swing 29.47% 12.24%
1998 Election map (by constituencies) Saffron = NDA and Red = UF
Partywise structure Alliance-wise structure
Prime Minister before election Inder Kumar Gujral JD Prime Minister after election Atal Bihari Vajpayee BJP

The 1998 Indian general election polls in Tamil Nadu were held for 39 seats in the state. New elections were called when Indian National Congress (INC) left the United Front government led by I. K. Gujral, after they refused to drop the regional Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party from the government after the DMK was linked by an investigative panel to Sri Lankan separatists blamed for the killing of Rajiv Gandhi. ^[1] The result was a landslide victory for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) winning 30 seats, which helped result in Atal Bihari Vajpayee being sworn in as the 16th Prime Minister of India. J. Jayalalithaa and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, broke off from their long alliance with Indian National Congress and formed an alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party, by joining the National Democratic Alliance. This state proved to be very important in determining the prime minister, since the 18 seats of AIADMK proved valuable for BJP to hold power. That was short-lived, since the AIADMK left the alliance in less than a year, and BJP lost the vote of confidence resulting in fresh elections being called.

Seat allotments

Source: Frontline ^[2]

National Democratic Alliance

Source: Indian Express ^[3]

No.	Party		Election Symbol	Leader	Seats
1.		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		J. Jayalalithaa	23
2.		Pattali Makkal Katchi		Dr. Ramdoss	5
3.		Bharatiya Janata Party		K. N. Lakshmanan	5
4.		Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		Vaiko	5
5.		Janata Party		Subramanian Swamy	1
Unregistered party, whose candidate ran as an independent
6.		Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress		Vazhappady K. Ramamurthy	1

United Front

No.	Party		Election Symbol	Leader	Seats
1.		Tamil Maanila Congress		G. K. Moopanar	20
2.		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		M. Karunanidhi	17
3.		Communist Party of India		R. Nallakannu	2

• Note: Even though CPI(M) originally wanted to contest in support of the United Front, it decided to contest alone when only 1 seat (Coimbatore) was offered. After the fallout, CPM wanted to contest 6 seats in Tamil Nadu on its own, but eventually only contested 2 seats and decided to support DMK-TMC front in the other 37 seats. This was done to keep out the possibility of any vote splitting that might result in NDA gaining seats. ^[4]

Congress alliance

No.	Party		Election Symbol	Leader	Seats
1.		Indian National Congress		Tindivanam K. Ramamurthy	35
2.		MGR Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		Su. Thirunavukkarasar	3
3.		United Communist Party of India		Tha. Pandian	1

List of Candidates

Constituency
		NDA			UF			INC+
1	Chennai North		MDMK	R. T. Sabapathy Mohan		DMK	C. Kuppusami		INC	G.K.J Bharathi
2	Chennai Central		AIADMK	D. Jayakumar		DMK	Murasoli Maran		INC	R Anbarasu
3	Chennai South		BJP	Jana Krishnamoorthy		DMK	T. R. Baalu		INC	M.P Subramanyam
4	Sriperumbudur		AIADMK	K. Venugopal		DMK	T. Nagaratnam		INC	Dr.K Jayakumar
5	Chengalpattu		AIADMK	Kanchi Panneerselvam		DMK	K. Parasuraman		INC	T N Muruganandam
6	Arakkonam		AIADMK	C. Gopal		TMC(M)	A. M. Velu		INC	R Dhamotharan
7	Vellore		PMK	N. T. Shanmugam		DMK	T. A. Mohammad Saqhe		INC	B Akber Pasha
8	Tiruppattur		AIADMK	S. Krishnamoorthy		DMK	D. Venugopal		INC	R Kannabiran
9	Vandavasi		PMK	M. Durai		TMC(M)	L. Balaraman		INC	M Krishnaswamy
10	Tindivanam		MDMK	N. Ramachandran Gingee		DMK	G. Venkatraman		INC	K Ramamurthee
11	Cuddalore		AIADMK	M. C. Dhamodaran		TMC(M)	P. R. S. Venkatesan		INC	Dr. R Eramadass
12	Chidambaram		PMK	R. Ezhilmalai		DMK	V. Ganesan		INC	Dr. P Vallalperuman
13	Dharmapuri		PMK	K. Pary Mohan		TMC(M)	P. Theertharaman		UCPI	P.K Pattabiraman
14	Krishnagiri		AIADMK	K. P. Munusamy		TMC(M)	D. R. Rajaram		INC	Aga. Krishnamurthy
15	Rasipuram		AIADMK	V. Saroja		TMC(M)	K. Kandasamy		INC	K Thenmozhi
16	Salem		TRC	K. Ramamurthy		TMC(M)	R. Devadass		INC	K.V Thangkabalu
17	Tiruchengode		AIADMK	Edappadi K. Palanisamy		DMK	K. P. Ramalingam		INC	P Palanisamy
18	Nilgiris		BJP	M. Master Mathan		TMC(M)	S. R. Balasubramaniam		INC	R Prabhu
19	Gobichettipalayam		AIADMK	V. K. Chinnasamy		DMK	N. Ramasamy		INC	E.V.K.S Elangovan
20	Coimbatore		BJP	C. P. Radhakrishnan		DMK	K. R. Subbian		INC	R Krishnan
21	Pollachi		AIADMK	M. Thiyagarajan		TMC(M)	Kovai Thangam		INC	R Eswaravelu
22	Palani		MDMK	A. Ganeshamurthi		TMC(M)	S. K. Kharvendhan		INC	K.S Venugopal
23	Dindigul		AIADMK	Dindigul C. Sreenivasan		TMC(M)	N. S. V. Chitthan		MADMK	S Latha
24	Madurai		JP	Subramaniyam Swamy		TMC(M)	A. G. S. Rambabu		INC	D Pandian
25	Periyakulam		AIADMK	Sedapatti Muthaih		DMK	R. Gandhimathi		INC	M Veeraprakash
26	Karur		AIADMK	M. Thambidurai		DMK	K. Natrayan		INC	K.P Shanmuga Sundaram
27	Tiruchirappalli		BJP	Rangarajan Kumaramangalam		TMC(M)	L. Adaikalaraj		INC	Subbha Somu
28	Perambalur		AIADMK	P. Rajarathinam		DMK	A. Raja		INC	P.V Subramanian
29	Mayiladuturai		PMK	P. D. Arul Mozhi		TMC(M)	K. Krishnamoorthy		INC	R Thirunavukkarasu
30	Nagapattinam		AIADMK	Dr. K. Gopal		CPI	M. Selvarasu		INC	M Thiagarajan
31	Thanjavur		MDMK	L. Ganesan		DMK	S. S. Palanimanickam		INC	Mathiyalagan
32	Pudukkottai		AIADMK	Raja Paramasivam		DMK	P. N. Siva		MADMK	S Thirunavukkarasu
33	Sivaganga		AIADMK	K. Kalimuthu		TMC(M)	P. Chidambaram		INC	M Gowrishankaran
34	Ramanathapuram		AIADMK	V. Sathyamoorthy		TMC(M)	S. P. Udaiyappan		INC	V Rajeshwaren
35	Sivakasi		MDMK	Vaiko		CPI	V. Alagirisamy		INC	K Rajendran
36	Tirunelveli		AIADMK	M. R. Kadambur Janardhanan		DMK	R. Sarath Kumar		MADMK	G.R Edmund
37	Tenkasi		AIADMK	S. Murugesan		TMC(M)	M. Arunachalam		INC	V Selvaraj
38	Tiruchendur		AIADMK	Ramarajan		TMC(M)	Dhanushkodi Aadhithan		INC	Kumari Ananthan
39	Nagercoil		BJP	Pon Radhakrishnan		TMC(M)	N. Dennis		INC	P.S Stanislaus

Voting and results

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

Election Map (Results reflected as %seats won by districts)

  AIADMK-BJP alliance won all the seats in this district

  AIADMK-BJP alliance won 67% of the seats (Vellore)

  DMK-TMC-CPI alliance won all the seats in this district

Alliance		Party		Popular Vote	Percentage	Swing	Seats won	Seat Change
	National Democratic Alliance		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	6,628,928	25.89%	18.05%	18	18
			Pattali Makkal Katchi	1,548,976	6.05%	4.02%	4	4
			Bharatiya Janata Party	1,757,645	6.86%	3.93%	3	3
			Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	1,602,504	6.26%	1.76%	3	3
			Janata Party	266,202	1.04%	0.28%	1	1
			Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress	365,557	1.43%		1	1
			Total	12,169,812	47.53%	29.47%	30	30
	United Front		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	5,140,266	20.08%	5.55%	5	12
			Tamil Maanila Congress	5,169,183	20.19%	6.81%	3	17
			Communist Party of India	628,360	2.45%	0.12%	1	1
			Total	10,937,809	42.72%	12.24%	9	30
	INC+		Indian National Congress	1,223,102	4.78%	13.48%	0
			MGR Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	278,324	1.09%	new party	0	new party
			United Communist Party of India	10,018	0.04%	new party	0	new party
			Total	1,511,444	5.91%	12.35%	0
	Independents			265,029	1.03%	1.97%	0
	Other Parties (10 parties)			719,704	2.81%	2.91%	0
Total				25,603,798	100.00%		39
Valid Votes				25,603,798	96.94%
Invalid Votes				806,904	3.06%
Total Votes				26,410,702	100.00%
Registered Voters/Turnout				45,577,788	57.95%	8.98%

†: Seat change represents seats won in terms of the current alliances, which is considerably different from the last election.
‡: Vote % reflects the percentage of votes the party received compared to the entire electorate in Tamil Nadu that voted in this election. Adjusted (Adj.) Vote %, reflects the % of votes the party received per constituency that they contested.
Sources: Election Commission of India ^[5]

List of Elected MPs

Constituency		Turnout	Winner					Runner-up					Margin
			Candidate	Party		Votes	%	Candidate	Party		Votes	%	Votes	%
1	Madras North	46.58%	C. Kuppusami		DMK	401,322	47.11	R.T.M Sabapathy Mohan		MDMK	332,229	39.00	69,093	8.11
2	Madras Central	49.50%	Murasoli Maran		DMK	300,774	51.73	D. Jayakumar		AIADMK	229,047	39.39	71,727	12.34
3	Madras South	47.35%	T. R. Baalu		DMK	432,913	48.17	Jana Krishnamurthi		BJP	412,899	45.94	20,014	2.23
4	Sriperumbudur (SC)	57.23%	K. Venugopal		AIADMK	326,528	46.89	T. Nagaratnam		DMK	302,733	43.48	23,795	3.41
5	Chengalpattu	60.67%	Kanchi Panneerselvam		AIADMK	329,239	49.10	K. Parasuraman		DMK	306,323	45.68	22,916	3.42
6	Arakkonam	67.26%	C. Gopal		AIADMK	359,431	51.56	A. M. Velu		TMC(M)	309,943	44.46	49,488	7.10
7	Vellore	62.98%	N. T. Shanmugam		PMK	331,035	49.12	T.A. Mohammed Saqhy		DMK	304,630	45.20	26,405	3.92
8	Tiruppattur	63.99%	D. Venugopal		DMK	322,990	47.88	S. Krishnamoorthy		AIADMK	322,716	47.83	274	0.05
9	Vandavasi	62.03%	M. Durai		PMK	327,010	50.66	L. Balaraman		TMC(M)	261,935	40.58	65,075	10.08
10	Tindivanam	63.39%	Gingee N. Ramachandran		MDMK	320,141	49.36	G. Venkatraman		DMK	288,688	44.51	31,453	4.85
11	Cuddalore	61.17%	S. Damodaran		AIADMK	309,985	48.84	P. R. S. Venkatesan		TMC(M)	282,856	44.56	27,129	4.28
12	Chidambaram (SC)	64.87%	Dalit Ezhilmalai		PMK	305,372	45.81	C. V. Ganesan		DMK	297,417	44.62	7,955	1.19
13	Dharmapuri	54.42%	K. Pary Mohan		PMK	341,917	55.04	P. Theertharaman		TMC(M)	242,490	39.03	99,427	16.01
14	Krishnagiri	58.08%	K. P. Munusamy		AIADMK	315,762	50.71	D. R. Rajaram		TMC(M)	266,413	42.78	49,349	7.93
15	Rasipuram (SC)	54.74%	V. Saroja		AIADMK	302,801	52.35	K. Kandasamy		TMC(M)	248,424	42.95	54,377	9.40
16	Salem	57.70%	Vazhappady K. Ramamurthy		IND	365,557	55.47	R. Devadass		TMC(M)	229,677	34.85	135,880	20.62
17	Tiruchengode	53.54%	Edappadi K. Palaniswami		AIADMK	414,992	54.70	K. P. Ramalingam		DMK	310,183	40.89	104,809	13.81
18	Nilgiris	55.50%	Master Mathan		BJP	322,818	46.49	S. R. Balasubramaniam		TMC(M)	262,433	37.80	60,385	8.69
19	Gobichettipalayam	61.43%	Chinnasamy V.K.		AIADMK	329,753	54.73	Ramasamy N.		DMK	215,111	35.71	114,642	19.02
20	Coimbatore	55.28%	Radhakrishnan C.P.		BJP	449,269	55.85	Subbian K.R.		DMK	304,593	37.86	144,676	17.99
21	Pollachi (SC)	56.42%	Thiyagarajan M.		AIADMK	306,083	55.22	Kovai Thangam		TMC(M)	210,682	38.01	95,401	17.21
22	Palani	47.08%	Ganeshamurthi A.		MDMK	286,300	47.08	Kaarvendhan S.K.		TMC(M)	258,863	42.57	27,437	4.51
23	Dindigul	53.47%	Sreenivaasan C.		AIADMK	276,106	46.55	Chitthan N.S.V.		TMC(M)	260,907	43.98	15,199	2.57
24	Madurai	50.12%	Subramanian Swamy		JNP	266,202	40.48	Rambabu A.G.S.		TMC(M)	245,305	37.30	20,897	3.18
25	Periyakulam	57.18%	Muthiah R.		AIADMK	319,672	53.06	Gandhimathy R.		DMK	249,092	41.34	70,580	11.72
26	Karur	59.84%	Thambi Durai M.		AIADMK	327,480	50.39	Natrayan K.		TMC(M)	283,807	43.67	43,673	6.72
27	Tiruchirappalli	54.97%	Rangarajan Kumaramangalam		BJP	305,233	48.39	Adaikalaraj L.		TMC(M)	293,778	46.57	11,455	1.82
28	Perambalur (SC)	64.56%	Rajarethinam P.		AIADMK	341,118	53.37	Raja A		DMK	280,682	43.91	60,436	9.46
29	Mayiladuturai	64.97%	Krishnamoorthy K.		TMC(M)	286,098	45.68	Arulmozhi P.D.		PMK	243,642	38.90	42,456	6.78
30	Nagapattinam (SC)	64.75%	M. Selvarasu		CPI	375,589	58.77	Dr. K. Gopal		AIADMK	244,286	38.23	131,303	20.54
31	Thanjavur	63.71%	S. S. Palanimanickam		DMK	324,344	51.81	L. Ganesan		MDMK	276,140	44.11	48,204	7.70
32	Pudukkottai	66.81%	Paramasivam Raja		AIADMK	288,072	37.25	P.N. Siva		DMK	257,552	33.30	30,520	3.95
33	Sivaganga	57.45%	P. Chidambaram		TMC(M)	303,854	51.15	K. Kalimuthu		AIADMK	244,713	41.19	59,141	9.96
34	Ramanathapuram	56.87%	V. Sathiamoorthy		AIADMK	258,978	43.83	Sp. Udayappan		TMC(M)	234,886	39.76	24,092	4.07
35	Sivakasi	64.95%	Vaiko		MDMK	387,694	50.68	V. Alagirisamy		CPI	252,771	33.05	134,923	17.63
36	Tirunelveli	56.68%	Kadambur R. Janarthanan		AIADMK	247,823	41.44	R. Sarathkumar		DMK	240,919	40.29	6,904	1.15
37	Tenkasi (SC)	65.29%	S. Murugesan		AIADMK	270,053	41.84	M. Arunachalam		TMC(M)	172,786	26.77	97,267	15.07
38	Tiruchendur	53.95%	Ramarajan		AIADMK	264,290	49.34	R. Dhanuskodi Athithan		TMC(M)	217,435	40.59	46,855	8.75
39	Nagercoil	58.32%	N. Dennis		TMC(M)	296,611	50.00	Pon Radhakrishnan		BJP	267,426	45.08	29,185	4.92

Post-election Union Council of Ministers from Tamil Nadu

Source: The Tribune ^{[6] [7]}

Cabinet Ministers

Minister	Party	Lok Sabha Constituency/Rajya Sabha	Portfolios
Rangarajan Kumaramangalam	BJP	Tiruchirappalli	Minister of Power and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs
M. Thambidurai	AIADMK	Karur	Minister of Law, Justice, and Company Affairs
R. Muthiah	AIADMK	Periyakulam	Minister of Surface Transport
Vazhappady Ramamurthy	TRC	Salem	Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas

• Note: R. Muthiah resigned in just 20 days in office, due to his assets coming into question by the high court in Madras. ^[8] In a year, cabinet ministers M. Thambidurai resigned along with M.R. Janarthanam, who was the replacement of R. Muthiah, as part of AIADMK's withdrawal from NDA, to start up fresh elections in 1999. Vazhappady Ramamurthy also refused to quit his cabinet ministership, and quit his relationship with AIADMK while keeping its relationship with NDA. ^[6]

Ministers of State (Independent charge)

Minister	Party	Lok Sabha Constituency/Rajya Sabha	Portfolios
Dalit Elumalai	PMK	Chidambaram	Minister of Health and Family Welfare

Ministers of State

Minister	Party	Lok Sabha Constituency/Rajya Sabha	Portfolios
M. R. Kadambur Janarthanan	AIADMK	Tirunelveli	Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension
R. K. Kumar	AIADMK	Rajya Sabha (Tamil Nadu)	Minister of Finance

See also

• Elections in Tamil Nadu

Bibliography

• Volume I, 1998 Indian general election, 12th Lok Sabha

1. "Government Falls, Indian Premier Quits; Coalition Splits Amid Gandhi Assassination Debate - The Washington Post". 3 November 2012. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012.
2. Of Polls and Prediction
3. "Jaya grabs the lions share in TN".
4. "Piqued CPM to stay away from Front in TN".
5. "ECI: Statistical Report 1998" (PDF). Retrieved 14 June 2011.
6. "Rediff On The NeT: Elections '98: Finance for Sinha, defence for Fernandes". www.rediff.com.
7. "Rediff On The NeT Elections '98: Vajpayee shows a generous hand to Jayalalitha in new portfolio allocation". www.rediff.com.
8. "Rediff On The NeT: Union surface transport minister quits". www.rediff.com.

External links

• Website of Election Commission of India
• CNN-IBN Lok Sabha Election History
• Of Polls and Prediction