The thirteenth legislative assembly election, of Tamil Nadu was held on May 8, 2006. It was held for all 234 constituencies to elect the government in the state of for the following five years. The votes were counted three days later on May 11, 2006 and all the results were out by the end of the day. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led (DMK) front won the elections, with the DMK emerging as the single-largest party with 96 seats, and its leader, M Karunanidhi was sworn in as Chief Minister for a fifth and final term. This election marked the first time the state saw a hung assembly with no party gaining a majority of its own. As a result, DMK formed a minority government with its allies, which is the first in the state since the 1952 election. 13th Assembly was instituted due to this election.
The 2004 Indian general election polls in Tamil Nadu were held for 39 seats in the state. The result was a victory for the Democratic Progressive Alliance, which included the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and its allies the Left Front which won all 39 seats in the state. DMK and its allies were also able to hold on to Pondicherry, which has 1 seat, which allowed the UPA to win all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. The 2 larger partners Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) (16) and Indian National Congress (INC) (10) won the majority of seats, with the junior partners Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) (5) and Marumaralarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) (4) winning the rest. The remaining 4 seats were won by the Left Front parties. Due to the support of the Left Front for the government at the centre, all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, supported the formation of the UPA-led government.
The twelfth legislative assembly election of Tamil Nadu was held on May 10, 2001. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK)-led front won the elections and its leader, J. Jayalalithaa was sworn in as Chief Minister, even though she could not legally run as MLA in this election. She was unanimously nominated as Chief Minister by her party and was ready to serve her second term. But due to criminal and corruption charges from her first term, on September 21, 2001, a five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court of India ruled in a unanimous verdict that "a person who is convicted for a criminal offence and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of not less than two years cannot be appointed the Chief Minister of a State under Article 164 (1) read with (4) and cannot continue to function as such". Thereby, the bench decided that "in the appointment of Ms. Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister there has been a clear infringement of a Constitutional provision and that a writ of quo warranto must issue". In effect her appointment as Chief Minister was declared null and invalid with retrospective effect. Therefore, technically, she was not the Chief Minister in the period between May 14, 2001 and September 21, 2001. After her resignation on September 21, 2001, she put in O. Panneerselvam, as the official 13th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, until she could clear up the charges from her first term, so she can take up the mantle of Chief Minister officially, on March 2, 2002.
The eleventh legislative assembly election of Tamil Nadu was held on 2 May 1996. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led front won the election and its leader M. Karunanidhi, became the chief minister. This was his fourth term in office. S.Balakrishnan, also known as So.Balakrishnan, of Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) became the Leader of the Opposition. The incumbent Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) government was defeated in a landslide with its leader and outgoing chief minister J. Jayalalitha losing the election from the Bargur constituency.
The tenth legislative assembly election of Tamil Nadu was held on 24 June 1991. The Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) – Indian National Congress (INC) alliance won the elections in a landslide and ADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa became the chief minister. This was her first term in office. The united strength of ADMK, the alliance with the Congress and the wave of public sympathy in the wake of Rajiv Gandhi assassination combined together to produce a massive victory for the ADMK. The M. Karunanidhi led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) was hurt by the public perception that it had close ties with LTTE and was routed in the elections winning only 2 out of the 234 seats.
The seventh legislative assembly election to Tamil Nadu was held on May 28, 1980. Election was held two years before the end of the term of M. G. Ramachandran administration, as it was dissolved for failure of state machinery by the then President of India Neelam Sanjiva Reddy. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam allied with the Indian National Congress (Indira) and Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam with Janata Party. Despite their victory at the 1980 Lok Sabha polls, DMK and Indira Congress failed to win the legislative assembly election. ADMK won the election and its leader and incumbent Chief Minister, M. G. Ramachandran was sworn in as Chief Minister for the second time.
The sixth legislative assembly election of Tamil Nadu was held on June 10, 1977. Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) won the election defeating its rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). M. G. Ramachandran, the ADMK founder and a leading Tamil film actor, was sworn in as Chief Minister for the first time. The election was a four cornered contest between the ADMK, DMK, the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Janata Party. Earlier in 1972, MGR had founded the ADMK following his expulsion from the DMK after differences arose between him and DMK leader M. Karunanidhi. On 31 January 1976, Karunanidhi's government was dismissed by the central government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi citing non co-operation for MISA and President's rule was imposed on the state. Karunanidhi had been at odds with Indira Gandhi over his opposition to Emergency and allied with Janata Party founded by Jayaprakash Narayan. Meanwhile, MGR had developed a close relationship with Indira Gandhi and supported the Emergency. MGR remained as Chief Minister until his death in 1987, winning the next two elections held in 1980 and 1984.This election gave concrete proof that Tamil people idolised MGR, as he won the State elections in allaince with Indira's Congress, despite the people hating Indira for implementing Emergency. Due to this feat, MGR inadvertently became an example for entry of famous actors to enter politics, with a hope that they too may become Chief minister one day. then Telugu superstar NTR followed MGR's suit in 1983 and won the Andhrapradesh general Elections to become the Chief minister of Andhrapradesh. Since then, no other actor has been able to recreate MGRs achievements in electoral Politics.
Ramasamy Thamaraikani was a politician from Tamil Nadu and a Member of Legislative Assembly. He was elected to Tamil Nadu state assembly five times from Srivilliputhur constituency, three times as an Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) candidate under M. G. Ramachandran, once as an independent and once as an ADMK candidate under Jayalalitha. He has been referred to as maverick and irrepressible by media.
The 1999 Indian general election polls in Tamil Nadu were held for 39 seats in the state. The result was a victory for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which won 26 seats. After leaving the NDA, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, hoped to create some damage, but ended up losing 8 seats, compared to the 1998 Lok Sabha elections. This is also the first time that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party, helping them have power at the national level for the next 5 years with the NDA, before they joined the UPA. The NDA, ended up losing 3 seats, compared to the election the year before, due to ADMK leaving the NDA, but the seats were made up, because DMK left the united front and joined the NDA.
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. The result was a landslide victory for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) winning 29 seats, which helped result in Atal Bihari Vajpayee being sworn in as the 16th Prime Minister of India. J. Jayalalithaa and the 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 ADMK proved valuable for BJP to hold power. That was short-lived, since the ADMK left the alliance in less than a year, and BJP lost the vote of confidence resulting in fresh elections being called.
The 1996 Indian general election polls in Tamil Nadu were held for 39 seats in the state. The result was a landslide for the newly formed alliance between Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) and its leader G.K. Moopanar, and the left parties who ended up getting all 39 seats. Post election, the newly formed United Front, ended up getting all the seats from Tamil Nadu, since DMK and TMC joined it, with outside support from Indian National Congress (INC). The results in Tamil Nadu is a reflection of the results nationally, where INC, ended up losing the most seats. This election was seen as redemption for Moopanar and TMC, since they left Congress, on grounds that they formed an alliance with ADMK, even though J. Jayalalithaa, leader of ADMK, was accused of many corruption charges. This led to a disastrous showing, for ADMK and Congress in Tamil Nadu, since they lost all 39 seats from the last election, and TMC reaping the benefits by getting the most seats, in this election with 20 seats.
The 2009 Indian general election polls in Tamil Nadu was held for 39 seats in the state. There was a radical change in the alliances in this election compared to the last election, reminiscent of the 1999 election in Tamil Nadu. In this election the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) decided to stay with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), but the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and the left parties decided to ally itself with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the newly formed Third Front.
Elections in Tamil Nadu are conducted every five years to elect the State assembly and its share of members to the Lok Sabha. There are 234 assembly constituencies and 39 Lok Sabha constituencies. The state has conducted 15 assembly elections and 16 Lok Sabha elections since independence.
By-elections to nine state assembly constituencies were held in Tamil Nadu, in four separate phases. Election for Thirumangalam was held on January 9 and for Bargur, Thondamuthur, Ilayankudi, Cumbum, and Srivaikuntam constituencies on August 18. Also, election took place for Vandavasi and Tiruchendur constituency on December 19, 2009 and finally for Pennagaram constituency on March 27, 2010. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) defeated All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in Thirumangalam in the first phase and kept the winning momentum in the following general election.
By-elections to Andipatti constituency was held in Tamil Nadu, India, on February 21, 2002. Three state assembly constituencies, Saidapet, Vaniyambadi, and Acharapakkam were held on May 31, 2002. In 2003, by-election in Sathankulam was held on February 26, 2003. During this by-election, the DMK and all the other major parties supported the Congress candidate, while only BJP supported the AIADMK candidate. This election came after the support of the Anti-conversion bill by AIADMK chief, Jayalalithaa and increasing tension between DMK and BJP due to the passage of the bill. The AIADMK win in Sathankulam was significant, since it completes the AIADMK sweep in by-elections after its victory in 2001. Also the anti-conversion bill was not an important factor in the congress-bastion Sathankulam, whose electorate consists of a large percentage of minorities.
By-elections to two state assembly constituencies were held in Tamil Nadu, India, in two separate phases. Election for Madurai Central was held on October 11, 2006 and for Madurai West was held on June 26, 2007. The election results were not expected to change the prospects of the party in power, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and its Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
The fourteenth legislative assembly election was held on 13 April 2011 to elect members from 234 constituencies in the India state of Tamil Nadu. Results were released on 13 May 2011. Two major parties Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) faced the election as coalitions of multiple political parties: DMK front consisted of 8 parties and the AIADMK of 11 parties. Vijayakanth's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), which had contested the previous elections independently, allied with AIADMK coalition. Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam boycotted the election following disagreement with Jayalalithaa over seat-sharing. Tamil film actor Vijay was openly involved in Tamil Nadu politics for the first time by extending his support for ADMK.
The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election was held on 16 May 2016 for the 232 seats of the Legislative Assembly in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. AIADMK under J. Jayalalithaa won the elections and became the first ruling party to be re-elected in Tamil Nadu since 1984, though with a reduced majority. DMK won half of the seats it contested but its allies performed poorly; notably, the Indian National Congress won 16% of the seats they contested and the alliance lost due to its poor performance. The votes were counted on 19 May 2016. In the previous election in 2011, AIADMK, under the leadership of Jayalalithaa, won a simple majority and formed the government, while DMDK chief Vijayakanth served as the Leader of Opposition until January 2016. This was the last election that J. Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi contested, as they both died in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
The 2019 Indian general elections was held in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha. The elections can be held at an earlier date if the Council of Ministers recommends dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha to the President of India. However, the government has publicly announced that the elections will be held according to schedule. The general election in Tamil Nadu was held on April 18, 2019. ECI has announced that the by-election for 18 assembly constituencies together with the general elections. The counting of votes was held on May 23 and on the same day results were published.
During the 2016–2021 timeframe, by-elections were held in Tamil Nadu, India, due to the following events:
