1989 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Election
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The ninth legislative assembly election of Tamil Nadu was held on 21 January 1989.
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 ...
(DMK) won the election and its leader M. Karunanidhi, became the Chief Minister. It was his third term in office. The DMK was in power only for a short term, as it was dismissed on 31 January 1991 by the Indian Prime minister Chandra Shekhar using Article 356 (Otherwise) of the Indian Constitution.


Background


Split in AIADMK

After the death of M. G. Ramachandran (M.G.R) in December 1987, his wife V. N. Janaki Ramachandran took over as Chief Minister. She lasted less than a month in power. The
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) split into two factions, one led by Janaki and the other by J. Jayalalithaa. The undivided AIADMK legislature party had a strength of 132 including the Speaker P. H. Pandian. 97 of them supported the Janaki faction while 33 backed the Jayalalithaa group. Speaker Pandian was a supporter of Janaki. He did not recognize the Jayalalithaa group as a separate party. On 28 January 1988, Janaki sought a vote of confidence in the Assembly. The Jayalalithaa group abstained from the assembly and Pandian disqualified all of them. Earlier in December 1986, 10 MLAs of the DMK had been expelled from the Assembly by Pandian for their participation in the anti-Hindi agitation of 1986, bringing down the strength of the house to 224. The disqualification of the 33 MLAs of the Jayalalithaa group by P.H.Pandian further reduced the assembly's strength to 191. This enabled Janaki to win the vote of confidence with the support of only 99 members (with 8 opposing votes and 3 neutrals). Other opposition parties boycotted the vote - only 111 members were present during the motion. Though she won the vote of confidence, her government was dismissed by prime minister
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 ...
on 30 January citing the disruptions in the assembly. After a year of President's rule, elections were again held in January 1989. Both the AIADMK factions claimed to be the official AIADMK and requested the election commission to grant the "two leaves" symbol of the AIADMK to them. However, the election commission refused to recognize either of them as the official AIADMK and temporarily froze the "two leaves" symbol on 17 December 1988. Instead it awarded the "cock" symbol to the Jayalalithaa faction (AIADMK(J)), while the Janaki faction (AIADMK(JA)) was given the "two doves" symbol. The politics of governor's office, The Business Line - 3 November 2003
/ref>All For You, Amma Outlook Magazine 13 March 1996
/ref>Raising The Dead Outlook Magazine 24 January 1996
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Coalitions

The Tamil Nadu unit of the
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 ...
initially decided to ally with the Jayalalithaa faction. This move was opposed by actor and Congress leader
Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram. Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001), better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th centur ...
. On 10 February 1988, he left the party along with his supporters to form a new party Thamizhaga Munnetra Munnani. Ganesan's party allied itself with the Janaki faction. Eventually, the Congress also contested the elections alone. The DMK was part of the Janata Dal led National Front. The front initially included both the
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 ...
(CPI) and
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 ...
(CPM).South India Election Will Test Political Strength of Gandhi, The New York Times 21 January 1989
/ref> However, in the election only Janata Dal and CPM had a seat sharing agreement with the DMK. The CPI allied itself with the AIADMK(J). This election attracted unusually high level of attention at the national level. It was seen as a precursor for the General election of 1989, a test of Rajiv Gandhi's popularity and P.H.Pandian's popularity as a speaker claiming Sky High Powers. The Tamil Nadu Congress (under G. K. Moopanar) was contesting elections alone after a gap of twelve years and
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 ...
campaigned extensively making multiple campaign visits to Tamil Nadu. V. P. Singh and Jyoti Basu, the national leaders of Janata Dal and CPM respectively also campaigned for the DMK led front in Tamil Nadu.


Seat allotments


DMK Front


AIADMK (Jayalalithaa) Front

†: The four seats that were delayed were contested by a united AIADMK front (AIADMK(J) & AIADMK(JA)), under the leader Jayalalithaa in a bye-election.


AIADMK (Janaki) Front


Congress


Voting and results

The election for 232 constituencies was held on 21 January 1989. The turnout among registered voters was 69.69%. Elections could not be held for two constituencies - Marungapuri and Madurai East - due to technical reasons. For these two elections were conducted later on 11 March 1989. Since the two AIADMK factions had merged in February 1989 under the leadership of Jayalalithaa, the Election Commission restored the "Two Leaves" symbol to the unified AIADMK for these elections. The unified AIADMK won both the seats.


Results by Pre-Poll Alliance

!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:#FF0000; color:white", DMK+ alliance ! style="background-color: " , , 169 , +137 , 9,135,220 , colspan=2 style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;", 37.9% , - , DMK ! style="background-color: #FF0000" , , 150 , +126 , 8,001,222 , 33.2% , 38.7% , - , CPI(M) ! style="background-color: #000080" , , 15 , +10 , 851,351 , 3.5% , 36.5% , - , JNP ! style="background-color: #FFFF00" , , 4 , +1 , 282,647 , 1.2% , 29.1% , - ! style="background-color:#009900; color:white", AIADMK(J)+ alliance ! style="background-color: " , , 30 , -5 , 5,393,857 , colspan=2 style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;", 22.4% , - , AIADMK(J) ! style="background-color: lime" , , 27 , -6 , 5,098,687 , 22.2% , 25.0% , - , CPI ! style="background-color: #0000FF" , , 3 , +1 , 295,170 , 1.2% , 21.3% , - ! style="background-color:gray; color:white", Others ! style="background-color:gray" , , 33 , -132 , 9,160,163 , colspan=2 style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;", 38.0% , - , INC ! style="background-color: #00FFFF" , , 26 , -37 , 4,780,714 , 19.8% , 21.8% , - , AIADMK(JA) ! style="background-color: olive" , , 2 , -95 , 2,214,965 , 9.2% , 12.2% , - ,
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: #666666" , , 5 , +1 , 2,164,484 , 9.0% , 9.1% , - , style="text-align:center;" , Total ! style="background-color: " , , 232 , – , 24,111,468 , 100% , style="text-align:center;" , – , - Sources: Election Commission of India ECI: 1989 Election Statistical Report
/ref>


By constituency


Analysis

The split in the AIADMK and the Congress contesting alone split the opposition votes, while the DMK retained its vote bank and won a comfortable majority. VN Janaki, contesting from Andipatti, lost to DMK's P. Asayan by less than a 5000 vote margin, in a four-way contest between AIADMK (Janaki), AIADMK (Jayalalithaa), Congress, and DMK.


Cabinet


See also

* Elections in Tamil Nadu * Legislature of Tamil Nadu *
Government of Tamil Nadu The Government of Tamil Nadu () is the administrative body responsible for the governance of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the capital of the state and houses the state executive, legislature and head of judiciary. Under the Const ...
, Ninth , 1989-91 , S. Krishnamoorthy ,
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 ...
, -


Footnotes


External links


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