The tenth legislative assembly election of

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 15 June 1991. 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) –

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 ...

(INC) alliance won the elections in a landslide manner and AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa became the chief minister on 24 June 1991. This was her first term in office. The united strength of AIADMK after the merger of J.Jayalalithaa, V.N Janaki Ramachandran and R.M Veerappan faction, who was made Joint General Secretary of AIADMK, the alliance with the Congress, and the wave of public sympathy in the wake of Rajiv Gandhi assassination combined to produce a massive victory for the AIADMK. The DMK could only win 2 seats. This was the worst performance of the DMK since it entered electoral politics in the

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Background

President's rule

On 30 January 1991, the DMK government which had come to power after winning the 1989 assembly election, was dismissed by the Indian Prime minister Chandra Shekhar using Article 356 of the Indian Constitution. President's rule was imposed on Tamil Nadu from 31 January. The reason cited for the dismissal was the deterioration of law and order in the state. The dismissal followed pressure on the Chandra Shekhar government by the Congress and AIADMK to dismiss the DMK government. The Chandra Shekhar government fell in March 1991 after the Congress withdrew its outside support. Fresh elections for both the Indian parliament and Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly were scheduled for June 1991.

Unification of AIADMK

The AIADMK which had contested and lost the 1989 elections as two different factions reunited under the leadership of Jayalalithaa in February 1989. The V. N. Janaki Ramachandran faction merged with the Jayalalithaa faction to form a single united party and Janaki retired from politics. The reunited party regained the popular "Two Leaves" symbol of the AIADMK. (The Election Commission of India had frozen the symbol for the 1989 elections due to the split). The united AIADMK was able to prove its strength immediately by winning the elections held for two constituencies - Marungapuri and Madurai East on 11 March 1989. (for these two constituencies elections had been postponed earlier due to technical reasons).The AIADMK then allied with the Congress for the 1989 Parliamentary elections. The AIADMK-Congress alliance won 38 of the 39

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

seats in that election routing the DMK- Janata Dal led National Front.

Formation of PMK

The 1991 elections was the first state elections contested by the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), S. Ramadoss, the leader of the Vanniyar caste organisation which demanded proportional reservation in education and employment based on population ratio of each community – the ''Vanniyar Sangam'' converted into a political party and entered electoral politics with the 1989 parliamentary elections. The emergence of PMK cut into the DMK's political base in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu.

Formation of TMK

In 1991, the Thayaga Marumalarchi Kazhagam (TMK) was formed by the actor-politician Vijaya T. Rajendar after he split from the DMK. Later, some of the second rung leaders of the ADMK including Su. Thirunavukkarasar, K. K. S. S. R. Ramachandran, S. D. Ugamchand, V. Karuppasamy Pandian split from the party. For the 1991 elections they formed a pact with T. Rajendar and contested as TMK candidates.

Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

On 21 May 1991, leader of the Indian National Congress and its prime ministerial candidate for the 1991 general elections was assassinated by a LTTE suicide bomber. The assassination took place at a campaign meeting at Sriperumpudur where he was campaigning for the Congress candidate Maragatham Chandrasekar.

Coalitions

The two main political formations in this election were the DMK and AIADMK led fronts. The DMK coalition comprised 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),

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), Janata Dal (JD) and Thayaga Marumalarchi Kazhagam (TMK). The AIADMK front had only two major parties – itself and the Congress. The AIADMK also backed the ICS (SCS) candidate Sanjay Ramasamy in the Virudhunagar constituency. Several smaller parties like the PMK contested the elections alone.

Seat allotments

AIADMK-led Alliance

DMK-led Alliance

Voting and results

The polling for the state assembly elections were held simultaneously with the polling for the 1991 Parliamentary elections on 15 June 1991. The voter turnout was 63.92%.

Results by Pre-Poll Alliance

1991 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: " , , 225 , +172 , 14,738,042 , colspan=2 style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;", 59.8% , - , AIADMK ! style="background-color: #008000" , , 164 , +137 , 10,940,966 , 44.4% , 61.1% , - , INC ! style="background-color: #00FFFF" , , 60 , +34 , 3,743,859 , 15.2% , 56.2% , - , ICS(SCS)^† ! style="background-color: #800000" , , 1 , +1 , 53,217 , 0.2% , 56.1% , - ! style="background-color:#FF0000; color:white", DMK+ alliance ! style="background-color: " , , 7 , -164 , 7,405,935 , colspan=2 style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;", 30.0% , - , DMK ! style="background-color: #FF0000" , , 2 , −148 , 5,535,668 , 22.5% , 29.9% , - , TMK ! style="background-color: #FF00FF" , , 2 , −1 , 371,645 , 1.5% , 31.0% , - , CPI(M) ! style="background-color: #000080" , , 1 , −14 , 777,532 , 3.2% , 31.2% , - , JD ! style="background-color: #FFFF00" , , 1 , +1 , 415,947 , 1.7% , 28.3% , - , CPI ! style="background-color: #0000FF" , , 1 , −2 , 305,143 , 1.2% , 29.9% , - ! style="background-color:gray; color:white", Others ! style="background-color:gray" , , 2 , -8 , 2,505,431 , colspan=2 style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;", 10.2% , - , PMK ! style="background-color: #800080" , , 1 , +1 , 1,452,982 , 5.9% , 7.0% , - , JP ! style="background-color: " , , 0 , −4 , 51,564 , 0.2% , 0.7% , - ,

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" , , 1 , −5 , 390,227 , 1.6% , 1.7% , - , style="text-align:center;" , Total ! style="background-color: " , , 234 , – , 24,649,408 , 100% , style="text-align:center;" , – , - †: ICS(SCS) contested in 13 different constituencies, but only the one contested by Sanjay Ramaswamy was endorsed by AIADMK.
‡: 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 IndiaECI: 1991 Election Statistical Report
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Constituency wise results

Analysis

The AIADMK coalition won a massive victory in this election capturing 225 of 234 seats. The DMK coalition was routed with only 7 victories. DMK itself could win only 2 seats including that of its leader M. Karunanidhi. Though Karunanidhi won from the Harbour constituency, he resigned his seat immediately. The victory of AIADMK-Congress has been attributed mainly to the sympathy wave following the Rajiv Gandhi assassination. Other factors which helped their victory were the consolidation of the AIADMK votes under the unified AIADMK party, successful projection by Jayalalithaa as the true political heir to M. G. Ramachandran (M.G.R), successful portrayal of DMK as anti-woman (by playing up the events in the Assembly on 25 March 1989) and the PMK cutting into the DMK's vote bank in the northern districts. This election saw the first electoral success of the PMK, when its candidate ''Panruti'' Ramachandran was elected from the Panruti constituency.

References

External links

Election Commission of India
{{Tamil Nadu assembly elections, state=expanded State Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu 1990s in Tamil Nadu

June 1991 in India