The eighth legislative assembly election for

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

was held on 24 December 1984.

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK, also abbreviated as ADMK), also shortened to Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, is an Indian Regionalism (politics), regional political party with great influence in the Federated state, sta ...

(AIADMK) won the election and its general secretary, incumbent

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 – 24 December 1987), popularly known by his initialism M.G.R. and as Makkal Thilagam/Puratchi Thalaivar, was an Indian actor, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of ...

(M.G.R) was sworn in as Chief Minister, for the third time. The election victory was mainly attributed to the sympathy wave created by

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

's assassination and M.G.R's illness coupled with

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...

's popularity. This is the last election M.G.R contested as he died in office in 1987. This is also the only General Election which M. Karunanidhi did not contest since 1957 until his death. As now, this is the last election where the ruling party gained seats.

Background

was assassinated on 31 October 1984. During the same time,

was diagnosed with kidney failure and admitted in a hospital in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

assumed office immediately. Rajiv Gandhi felt that his Government required a fresh mandate from the people, and dissolved the Lok Sabha a year before its actual end of term, for fresh general elections. At the same time, Chief minister of Tamilnadu, M.G.R recommended dissolution of Tamil Nadu State Assembly a year ahead of end of term, to use the sympathy wave of Congress, and also check his popularity.

Indian National Congress (Indira) The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

and

formed an alliance and contested both general elections.

Parties

National parties

Bharatiya Janta Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, ...

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

and

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

, state parties

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; ; DMK) is an Indian political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu, where it is currently the ruling party, and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry, where it is currently the main ...

, Indian Congress (J), and registered unrecognised parties Ambedkar Kranti Dal, Gandhi Kamaraj National and Tamil Nadu Congress (K) contested the election.

Seat allocation

The allocation of seats were done what was later dubbed, "The M.G.R formula". Where the regional party would contest 70% of the assembly seats and the national party would be given 70% of the Lok Sabha seats. This would be the last election M.G.R contested, due to his death during his chief ministership.

Campaigning

M. G. Ramachandran was confined to the hospital. Video coverage of M.G.R recuperating in hospital along with Indira Gandhi's assassination were stitched together by AIADMK man in charge of campaigning

R. M. Veerappan R. M. Veerappan (9 September 1926 – 9 April 2024), also referred to as RMV or Rama Veerappan, was an Indian film producer, screenwriter and politician from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He was the founder and leader of the MGR Kazhagam par ...

. The video was distributed and played across all over Tamil Nadu. Rajiv Gandhi visited cyclone-hit areas in Tamil Nadu which also boosted the alliance. The sympathy wave created by Indira's assassination, M.G.R's illness and Rajiv Gandhi's charisma helped the alliance sweep the election. DMK leader M. Karunanidhi did not contest this election, due to the fact that the AIADMK founder M.G.R was admitted to a hospital in the U.S. and

being assassinated.

Seat allotments

AIADMK Front

DMK Front

Voting and results

Results by Pre-Poll Alliance

1984 tamil nadu legislative election map by parties

!colspan=10, , - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" , Alliance/Party !style="width:4px" , ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Seats won ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Change ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Popular Vote ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Vote % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Adj. %^‡ , - ! style="background-color:#009900; color:white", AIADMK+ alliance ! style="background-color:" , , 195 , +29 , 11,681,221 , style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" colspan=2 , 53.9% , - ,

AIADMK The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK, also abbreviated as ADMK), also shortened to Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, is an Indian regional political party with great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory ...

! style="background-color:" , , 132 , +3 , 8,030,809 , 37.0% , 54.3% , - , INC(I) ! style="background-color:" , , 61 , +30 , 3,529,708 , 16.3% , 54.5% , - , GKC ! style="background-color: teal" , , 2 , -4 , 120,704 , 0.6% , 40.4% , - ! style="background-color:#FF0000; color:white", DMK+ alliance ! style="background-color: " , , 34 , -25 , 8,021,293 , style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" colspan=2 , 37.0% , - , DMK ! style="background-color: " , , 24 , -13 , 6,362,770 , 29.3% , 40.8% , - ,

CPI(M) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electoral seats, and one of the six national parties of India. ...

! style="background-color: " , , 5 , -6 , 597,622 , 2.8% , 39.6% , - , JNP ! style="background-color: " , , 3 , +1 , 493,374 , 2.3% , 36.4% , - , CPI ! style="background-color: " , , 2 , -7 , 567,527 , 2.6% , 35.5% , - ! style="background-color:gray; color:white", Others ! style="background-color:gray" , , 5 , -4 , 1,983,959 , style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" colspan=2 , 9.1% , - ,

IND Ind or IND may refer to: General * Independent (politician), a politician not affiliated to any political party * Independent station, used within television program listings and the television industry for a station that is not affiliated with ...

! style="background-color: " , , 4 , -4 , 1,619,921 , 7.5% , 7.9% , - , AKD ! style="background-color:", , 1 , – , 47,212 , 0.7% , 57.2% , - , TNC ! style="background-color: " , , 0 , – , 152,315 , 0.7% , 34.9% , - ,

ICJ The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

! style="background-color:", , 0 , – , 110,121 , 0.5% , 3.2% , - , BJP ! style="background-color:", , 0 , – , 54,390 , 0.3% , 3.7% , - ! style="text-align:center;" , Total ! style="background-color: " , ! 234 ! – ! 21,686,473 ! 100% ! style="text-align:center;" , – , - ‡: Vote % reflects the percentage of votes the party received compared to the entire electorate 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

By constituency

M.G.R's third cabinet

After the General Elections held in December 1984, the Governor appointed Dr. M. G. Ramachandran as Chief Minister heading the new Government with effect from the forenoon of 10 February 1985. The Governor, on the advice of Hon. Chief Minister appointed 16 more Ministers on 14 February 1985.

Janaki's cabinet

After MGR's death, VR Neduncheziyan was sworn in as Acting Chief Minister. But, one week later, the party majority led by R.M.Veerappan supported MGR's widow Janaki to become Chief minister and she was sworn in as Chief minister. Janaki doubled as the finance minister in her Cabinet. The Governor gave V. N. Janaki Ramachandran 30 days time to prove majority support in the house. This was a problem because, 30 MLAs of her own party were supporting

J. Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016), popularly known as Amma, was an Indian actress, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years between 1991 and 2016. She ...

to become the new Chief minister. Hence Janaki had the support of only 105 MLAs in the house of 234, as VR Neduncheziyan's 10 supporters chose to remain neutral and boycott the voting. Hence, on the day of voting, Speaker PH pandiyan disqualified and dismissed 20 MLAs of opposition party DMK and 15 MLAs of AIADMK (Jayalalithaa faction ) from their MLA posts, due to demeaning behaviour in the house and thus announced that the majority was reduced to a mere 100, as the house then had only 199 members. Before commencement of oral voting, violence erupted in the house and the speaker was injured. With bleeding head, he announced that Janaki had proved her majority with 105 MLAs and adjourned the house immediately. Then the members of the assembly were escorted out. The Governor of state refused to accept this voting which was done under suspicious environment and recommended the Central government to dismiss the legislature and hold fresh general elections. The central government accepted the recommendation and the legislature was dissolved by the President.

Footnotes

External links

Election Commission of India
{{Tamil Nadu assembly elections, state=expanded State Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu 1980s in Tamil Nadu