A. M. Munirathinam Mudaliyar is an Indian politician

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

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 ...

. He was elected to the

Tamil Nadu legislative assembly The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the India, 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 office ...

from Sholinghur constituency as an

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) candidate in the 1989 and 2016 and 1991 elections and as a

Tamil Maanila Congress The Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) (; TMC(M)) is an Indian regional political party in the state of Tamil Nadu. It was founded by the former member of parliament of the Republic of India G. K. Moopanar on 29 March 1996 as a breakaway f ...

(TMC) candidate in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. Munirathinam and his three brothers, including Ponnuranga, formed a staunch INC-supporting family that has dominated the political life of the mostly rural area of

Sholinghur } Sholinghapuram, shortened to Sholinghur (in Tamil: சோளிங்கப்புரம் or சோளிங்கர்) is a municipality under Sholinghur taluk in Ranipet District, Vellore region of Tamil Nadu, India. The town is fam ...

since the 1960s, with one or other of the brothers either winning or being runner-up in eight of the twelve state assembly elections between 1962 and 2011. They operate a private bus company that provides both local employment and much-needed cheap transport, and political scientist Adam Ziegfeld believes their "main source of influence seems to be their status as local notables - wealthy, powerful members of the community who are sources of employment and philanthropy". Despite his strong allegiance to the INC, Munirathinam was among the many people in Tamil Nadu who deserted the party in favour of the newly formed TMC in 1996. He won in the 1996 elections but could not defend the seat in those of

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

because an electoral pact between the TMC and

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) entailed that it would be contested by a candidate from the AIADMK and not by the TMC. He was president of the town panchayat when the TMC merged back into the INC after the death of its founder,

G. K. Moopanar Govindaswamy Karuppiah Moopanar (19 August 1931 – 30 August 2001), known as G. K. Moopanar, was a Tamil Nadu Congress Committee leader, parliamentarian, and social worker. He served as Member of the Rajya Sabha, president of Tamil Nadu Congr ...

, and he then became district president of the INC. Despite his position, he was overlooked as a candidate in the

2006 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2006. * Elections in 2006 * Electoral calendar 2006 * 2006 Acehnese regional election * 2006 American Samoan legislative election * 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2006 Costa Rican presidential e ...

, with the party instead nominating D. Arul Anbarasu, the son of Era. Anbarasu, a prominent INC politician at state level. He and his brothers stayed with the INC, who won the seat, but when Munirathinam was again overlooked by the party in favour of Anbarasu at the time of the 2011 elections, he opted to stand as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. He came second with 34 per cent of the vote, while Anbarasu was well behind in third place. In 2021 Tamil Nadu State elections, Munirathinam won the election for 4th time with 26,698 votes defeating AM Krishnan of PMK party.

Electoral performance

References

Tamil Nadu MLAs 1996–2001 Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Indian National Congress politicians from Tamil Nadu Tamil Maanila Congress politicians Independent politicians in India Tamil Nadu MLAs 1991–1996 Tamil Nadu MLAs 2021–2026 {{TamilNadu-INC-politician-stub