Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council,the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initially created as an advisory body in 1861,by the British colonial government. It was established by the Indian Councils Act 1861,enacted in the British parliament in the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Its role and strength were later expanded by the second Council Act of 1892. Limited election was introduced in 1909. The Council became a unicameral legislative body in 1921 and eventually the upper chamber of a bicameral legislature in 1937. After India became independent in 1947,it continued to be the upper chamber of the legislature of Madras State,one of the successor states to the Madras Presidency. It was renamed as the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council when the state was renamed as Tamil Nadu in 1969. The Council was abolished by the M. G. Ramachandran administration on 1 November 1986. In 2010 the DMK regime headed by M. Karunanidhi tried to revive the Council. The former AIADMK regime (2016-2021) expressed its intention not to revive the council and passed a resolution in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in this regard.
Sirkazhi Govindarajan was an Indian Carnatic vocalist and a leading playback singer of Indian cinema.
Jagannathan Shivashanmugam was an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress. In 1938,he became the first Scheduled Caste mayor of Madras. He also served as the first speaker of the Madras Legislative Assembly after India's independence.
N. Gopala Menon was a lawyer and an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress,also Member of the Legislative Assembly of Madras state. He served as the Speaker of the Madras Legislative Assembly from 1955 to 1956.
Udupi Krishna Rau was a medical practitioner and politician of the Indian National Congress. He served as mayor of Madras city and as State minister.
S. Chellapandian was an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress and member of the legislative assembly of Madras state from Tirunelveli. He served as the Speaker of the Madras Legislative Assembly from 1962 to 1967.
K. A. Mathiazhagan was an Indian politician and co-founder of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He served as the Finance Minister,Minister of Food,Revenue and Commercial Taxes in the Tamil Nadu government and Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.
Munu Adhi was an Indian politician of the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He served as the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1977 to 1980.
K. Rajaram was an Indian politician of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and later,All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He served as the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1980 to 1985.
M. Tamilkudimagan was an Indian politician and Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. He served as Speaker of the Assembly from 1989 to 1991. His original name was Sathiah.
B. Baktavatsalu Naidu was an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress,and a member of the Legislative Assembly of Madras state. He served as the Deputy Speaker of the Madras Legislative Assembly from 1952 to 1967.
K. Parthasarathi was an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress and Member of the Legislative Assembly of Madras state. He served as the Deputy Speaker of the Madras Legislative Assembly from 1962 to 1967.
G. R. Edmund was an Indian politician of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. He served as the Deputy Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1969 to 1971.
P. Seenivasan was an Indian politician of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Member of the Legislative Assembly Tamil Nadu. He served as the Deputy Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1971 to 1972. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly as a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate from Virudhunagar constituency and Sivakasi in 1967,1971 and 1989 elections. He defeated the King maker K. Kamaraj in the 1967 assembly elections when he contested against him in the virudhunagar constituency.
N. Ganapathy was an Indian politician of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadufrom Papanasam Thanjavur District. He served as the Deputy Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1973 to 1977. He was again a Member of the Legislative Assembly in 1989-1991 from Mylapore Constituency in Chennai City. Mr. Ganapathy was also a brilliant lawyer headed the law firm Pathy &Sundaram practising in the Madras High Court. Mr. Ganapathy worked with Mr. G. Ramaswamy former Attorney General of India.
V. P. Balasubramanian is an Indian senior politician of the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. He served as Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu from 1980 to 1988 representing Vedasandur Assembly constituency,and Deputy speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1985 to 1988.
V. P. Duraisamy is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a former member of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.
A. Arunachalam is an Indian politician of the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and a former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He served as the Deputy Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2006.
The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members,all of whom are democratically elected using the first-past-the-post system. The presiding officer of the Assembly is the Speaker. The term of the Assembly is five years,unless dissolved earlier.
