The verdict
The 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election was held in a single phase on April 6, 2021, to elect 234 members to the 16th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. The state recorded a voter turnout of 73.63%. Votes were counted on May 2, 2021.
The Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), won 159 seats, with the DMK alone winning 133 constituencies, securing an absolute majority for the first time in 25 years. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the AIADMK and BJP, won 75 seats, of which 66 were won by the AIADMK.
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The Congress won 7 seats, the BJP 4, the CPI and CPI(M) 2 each, the PMK 5 and the VCK 4.The alliances
The DMK led the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), which included the Indian National Congress (INC), the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Vaiko’s Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the Kongunadu Makkal Desia Katchi (KMDK), and others.
In the seat-sharing arrangement within the SPA, the DMK contested in 173 seats while alliance parties Congress (25 seats), CPI, CPI-M, MDMK and VCK (6 seats each), and IUML and KMDK (3 each) shared the remaining constituencies.
The AIADMK joined the National Democratic Alliance, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, and projected its leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami as its chief ministerial candidate.
Vote share and regional patterns
The DMK’s vote share was 37.7 per cent, while the AIADMK polled 33.29 per cent. The Congress recorded 4.26 per cent and the PMK 3.82 per cent. The BJP’s vote share stood at 2.61 per cent. The DMK alliance held a lead of approximately 6 per cent over the AIADMK alliance in the overall popular vote. NOTA received 0.75 per cent of the total valid votes cast.
The DMK-led SPA completely swept all constituencies in Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts. The Central Tamil Nadu and Kaveri delta region showed overwhelming support for the SPA, with the NDA winning only four out of 41 seats in the region. The AIADMK maintained its traditional sway in Western Tamil Nadu popularly known as Kongu Nadu where the NDA won more than 70 per cent of constituencies, including all seats in Coimbatore and Dharmapuri districts.
The 2021 results exposed a clear rural-urban divide in voting patterns. Of the 50 urban constituencies, the DMK alliance won 40, recording an 80 per cent strike rate, while the NDA won only 10 urban seats.
Women in the contest
A total of 405 women candidates contested in the 2021 election, accounting for 8.35 per cent of all candidates. Twelve women candidates won seven from reserved constituencies and five from general constituencies.
New government
M. K. Stalin was sworn in as Chief Minister on May 7, 2021, by Governor Banwarilal Purohit, in a ceremony at Raj Bhavan. Stalin became the eighth Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
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The 2021 election was the first state election after the deaths of AIADMK founder J. Jayalalithaa, who died in December 2016, and DMK president M. Karunanidhi, who died in August 2018. The DMK formed the state government for the sixth time with this victory, ending the AIADMK’s two consecutive terms in power spanning 2011 to 2021.
Since 1967, political contestation in Tamil Nadu has been largely dominated by the two Dravidian parties the DMK and the AIADMK, which have alternated in power across successive elections.
