1996 Indian general election in Tamil Nadu

For State Assembly election, see 1996 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election.

The 1996 Indian general election polls in Tamil Nadu were held for 39 seats in the state. The result was a landslide for the newly formed alliance between Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) and its leader G. K. Moopanar, and the left parties who ended up getting all 39 seats. Post election, the newly formed United Front, ended up getting all the seats from Tamil Nadu, since DMK and TMC joined it, with outside support from Indian National Congress (INC). The results in Tamil Nadu is a reflection of the results nationally, where INC, ended up losing the most seats. This election was seen as redemption for Moopanar and TMC, since they left Congress, on grounds that they formed an alliance with AIADMK, even though J. Jayalalithaa, general secretary of AIADMK, was accused of many corruption charges. This led to a disastrous showing, for AIADMK and Congress in Tamil Nadu, since they lost all 39 seats from the last election, and TMC reaping the benefits by getting the most seats, in this election with 20 seats.

Indian general election in Tamil Nadu, 1996

← 1991 April–May 1996 1998 →
39 (of 543) seats in the Lok Sabha
Registered	42,488,022
Turnout	28,438,885 (66.93%) 3.01%
First party Second party   Leader G. K. Moopanar J. Jayalalithaa Party TMC(M) AIADMK Alliance United Front Congress alliance Leader's seat Did not contest Did not contest Seats won 39 0 Seat change 39 39 Popular vote 14,940,474 7,095,650 Percentage 54.96% 26.10% Swing 30.23% 34.57%
1996 Election map (by constituencies) Red = United Front (won all the seats)
Seat wise Result
Prime Minister before election P. V. Narasimha Rao INC Prime Minister after election Atal Bihari Vajpayee BJP

Seat allotments

United Front

No.	Party		Election Symbol	Leader	Seats
1.		Tamil Maanila Congress		G. K. Moopanar	20
2.		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		M. Karunanidhi	17
3.		Communist Party of India		R. Nallakannu	2

Congress Front

No.	Party		Election Symbol	Leader	Seats
1.		Indian National Congress		P.V. Narasimha Rao	29
2.		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		J. Jayalalithaa	10

MDMK-CPI(M) Front

No.	Party		Election Symbol	Leader	Seats
1.		Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		Vaiko	24
2.		Janata Dal			8
3.		Communist Party of India (Marxist)		N. Sankaraiah	7

PMK-Tiwari Congress Front

No.	Party		Election Symbol	Leader	Seats
1.		Pattali Makkal Katchi		Dr. Ramdoss	15
2.		All India Indira Congress (Tiwari)		Vazhappady Ramamurthy	12

Voting and results

Election map of results based on parties. Colours are based on the results table on the left

Election Map (Results reflected as %seats won by districts)
DMK-TMC-CPI alliance won all the seats in Tamil Nadu and the following represent the breakdown:

  DMK won all the seats in this district

  TMC won all the seats in this district

  DMK won 67% of the seats in this district, while TMC got the rest

  DMK won 50% of the seats in this district, while TMC got the rest

  CPI won all of the seats in this district

  TMC won 50% of the seats in this district, while CPI got the rest

Alliance		Party		Popular Vote	Percentage	Swing	Seats won	Seat Change
	United Front		Tamil Maanila Congress	7,339,982	27.00%	new party	20	new party
			Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	6,967,679	25.63%	2.94%	17	17
			Communist Party of India	632,813	2.33%	0.29%	2	2
			Total	14,940,474	54.96%	30.23%	39	39
	AIADMK+		Indian National Congress	4,965,364	18.26%	24.31%	0	28
			All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	2,130,286	7.84%	10.26%	0	11
			Total	7,095,650	26.10%	34.57%	0	39
	MDMK+		Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	1,222,415	4.50%	new party	0	new party
			Communist Party of India (Marxist)	632,813	2.33%	0.29%	0
			Janata Dal	415,287	1.53%	1.38%	0
			Total	2,270,515	8.36%	3.41%	0
	PMK+		All India Indira Congress (Tiwari)	605,565	2.23%	new party	0	new party
			Pattali Makkal Katchi	552,118	2.03%	3.09%	0
			Total	1,157,683	4.26%	0.86%	0
	Independents			815,224	3.00%	1.57%	0
	Other Parties (14 parties)			909,395	3.32%	0.22%	0
Total				27,188,941	100.00%		39
Valid Votes				27,188,941	95.60%
Invalid Votes				1,249,944	4.40%
Total Votes				28,438,885	100.00%
Registered Voters/Turnout				42,488,022	66.93%	3.01%

Note: TMC(M) is a spliter-group of INC, who carried with them 6 incumbent MPs from previous election
‡: Vote % reflects the percentage of votes the party received compared to the entire electorate that voted in this election. Adjusted (Adj.) Vote %, reflects the average % of votes the party received per constituency that they contested.
Sources: Election Commission of India^[1]

List of Elected MPs

Constituency	Winner	Party		Margin	Runner-upa	Partya
1. Chennai North	N. V. N. Somu		DMK	389,617	D. Pandian		INC
2. Chennai Central	Murasoli Maran		DMK	280,467	G. K. J. Bharathi		INC
3. Chennai South	T.R. Baalu		DMK	339,181	H. Ganesham		AIADMK
4. Sriperumbudur	T. Nagaratnam		DMK	245,711	Lata Priyakumar		INC
5. Chengalpattu	K. Parasuraman		DMK	235,657	S. M. Krishnan		INC
6. Arakkonam	A. M. Velu		TMC(M)	264,845	R. Raviram		INC
7. Vellore	P. Shanmugam		DMK	211,035	B. Akbar Pasha		INC
8. Tiruppattur	D. Venugopal		DMK	240,264	R. Anbarasu		INC
9. Vandavasi	L. Balaraman		TMC(M)	173,304	M. Krishnaswamy		INC
10. Tindivanam	G. Venkatraman		DMK	190,276	K. Ramamurthy		INC
11. Cuddalore	P. R. S. Venkatesan		TMC(M)	205,204	V. Sathyamurthy		INC
12. Chidambaram	V. Ganesan		DMK	176,266	R. Elumalai		PMK
13. Dharmapuri	P. Theertharaman		TMC(M)	131,246	M. P. Subramanyam		INC
14. Krishnagiri	C. Narasimhan		TMC(M)	194,676	E. V. K. S. Elangovan		INC
15. Rasipuram	K. Kandasamy		TMC(M)	193,178	K. Jayakumar		INC
16. Salem	R. Devadass		TMC(M)	120,885	K. V. Thankabalu		INC
17. Tiruchengode	K. P. Ramalingam		DMK	194,188	A. V. Kumarasamy		AIADMK
18. Nilgiris	S. R. Balasubramaniam		TMC(M)	281,376	R. Prabhu		INC
19. Gobichettipalayam	V. P. Shanmugasundaram		DMK	142,968	P. G. Narayanan		AIADMK
20. Coimbatore	M. Ramanathan		DMK	262,787	C. K. Kuppuswamy		INC
21. Pollachi	V. Kandasamy		TMC(M)	138,891	R. Anna Nambi		AIADMK
22. Palani	Salarapatty Kuppusamy Kaarvendhan		TMC(M)	192,633	P. Kumarasamy		AIADMK
23. Dindigul	N. S. V. Chitthan		TMC(M)	267,914	Dindigul C. Sreenivasan		AIADMK
24. Madurai	A. G. S. Ram Babuc		TMC(M)	189,806	Subramanian Swamy		JP
25. Periyakulam	R. Gnanagurusamy		DMK	131,337	R. Ramasamy		AIADMK
26. Karur	K. Natrayan		TMC(M)	168,274	M. Thambi Durai		AIADMK
27. Tiruchirappalli	L. Adaikalarajc		TMC(M)	264,708	K. Gopal		INC
28. Perambalur	A. Raja		DMK	214,247	P. V. Subramanian		INC
29. Mayiladuturai	P. V. Rajendran		TMC(M)	153,544	Mani Shankar Iyer		INC
30. Nagapattinam	M. Selvarasu		CPI	221,346	M. Kannivannan		INC
31. Thanjavur	S. S. Palanimanickam		DMK	200,428	K. Thulasiah Vandyar		INC
32. Pudukkottai	N. Siva		DMK	177,873	V. N. Swaminathan		INC
33. Sivaganga	P. Chidambaramc		TMC(M)	247,302	M. Gowrishankaran		INC
34. Ramanathapuram	S. P. Udayappan		TMC(M)	195,304	V. Rajeshwaran		INC
35. Sivakasi	V. Alagirisamy		CPI	23,622	Sanjay Ramasamy		AIADMK
36. Tirunelveli	D. S. A. Sivaprakasam		DMK	118,280	A. R. Rajaselvam		AIADMK
37. Tenkasi	M. Arunachalamc		TMC(M)	95,926	V. Selvaraj		INC
38. Tiruchendur	R. Dhanuskodi Athithanc		TMC(M)	203,711	S. Justin		INC
39. Nagercoil	N. Dennisc		TMC(M)	27,697	Pon. Radhakrishnan		BJP

^c-indicates sitting/incumbent M.P. from previous Lok Sabha (1991–1996)

Post-election Union Council of Ministers from Tamil Nadu

Source: Thinkquest Library^[2]

Cabinet Ministers

Minister	Party		Lok Sabha Constituency/Rajya Sabha	Portfolios
Murasoli Maran		DMK	Chennai Central	Minister of Commerce and Industry
G. Venkatraman		DMK	Tindivanam	Minister of Surface Transport
M. Arunachalam		TMC(M)	Tenkasi	Minister of Urban Development (few months) Minister of Labour
P. Chidambaram		TMC(M)	Sivaganga	Minister of Finance

Ministers of State

Minister	Party		Lok Sabha Constituency/Rajya Sabha	Portfolios
T.R. Baalu		DMK	Chennai South	Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas
R. Dhanuskodi Athithan		TMC(M)	Tiruchendur	Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports
N. V. N. Somu		DMK	Chennai North	Minister of Defence

See also

• Elections in Tamil Nadu