Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Tamilnāṭu Saṭṭamaṉṟam | |
|---|---|
| 16th Tamil Nadu Assembly | |
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| Type | |
| Type | |
Term limits | 5 years |
| Leadership | |
R. N. Ravi since 18 September 2021 | |
Deputy Speaker | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 234 |
 By party | |
Political groups | Government (158) Opposition (65) Other Opposition (9) Vacant (2)
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| Elections | |
| First past the post | |
First election | 27 March 1952 |
Last election | 6 April 2021 |
Next election | May 2026 |
| Meeting place | |
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| 13°04′47″N80°17′14″E / 13.0796°N 80.2873°E /13.0796; 80.2873 Chief Secretariat of Tamil Nadu,Chennai,Tamil Nadu | |
| Website | |
| This article is part of a series on the |
| Politics of Tamil Nadu |
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The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state ofTamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members, all of whom are democratically elected using the first-past-the-post system. The presiding officer of the Assembly is the Speaker. The term of the Assembly is five years, unless dissolved earlier.
Since Tamil Nadu has a unicameral legislature, the terms Tamil Nadu Legislature and Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly are almost synonymous and are often confused. However, they are not one and the same. The Tamil Nadu Legislature is the legislative body, while the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is a part of it. The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, along with the Governor of Tamil Nadu, constitutes the Tamil Nadu Legislature.
The present state of Tamil Nadu is a residuary part of the erstwhile Madras Presidency and was formerly known as Madras State. The first legislature of any sort for the Presidency was the Madras Legislative Council, which was set up as a non-representative advisory body in 1861. In 1919, direct elections were introduced with the introduction of diarchy under the Government of India Act 1919. Between 1920 and 1937, the Legislative Council was a unicameral legislature for the Madras Presidency. The Government of India Act 1935 abolished diarchy and created a bicameral legislature in the Madras Presidency. The Legislative Assembly became the Lower House of the Presidency.
After the Republic of India was established in 1950, the Madras Presidency became the Madras State, and the bicameral setup continued. The Madras State's assembly strength was 375, and the first assembly was constituted in 1952. The current state was formed in 1956 after the reorganisation of states, and the strength of the assembly was reduced to 206. Its strength was increased to the present 234 in 1965. Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969, and subsequently, the assembly came to be called theTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Council was abolished in 1986, making the legislature a unicameral body and the assembly its sole chamber.
The presentSixteenth Legislative Assembly was constituted on 3 May 2021. It was constituted after the2021 assembly election, which resulted in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led front winning and forming the government. The next election will take place in 2026.
The first legislature of any kind to be established in Madras was the Madras Legislative Council in 1861. First established as a non-representative advisory body, it saw the introduction of elected members in 1892. TheIndian Councils Act 1909 (popularly called the "Minto-Morley Reforms") officially introduced indirect election of members to the Council. In 1919, direct elections were introduced with the introduction ofdiarchy under the Government of India Act 1919. Between 1920 and 1937, the Legislative Council was a unicameral legislature for theMadras Presidency. The Government of India Act 1935 abolished diarchy and created a bicameral legislature in Madras province. The Legislature consisted of the Governor and two legislative bodies: a Legislative Assembly and a Legislative Council. The Assembly was the lower house and consisted of 215 members, who were further classified into general members and reserved members representing special communities and interests:[1][2]
| Reservation | Number of members |
|---|---|
| Unreserved | 116 |
| Scheduled Castes | 30 |
| Muslims | 28 |
| Christians | 8 |
| Women | 8 |
| Landholders | 6 |
| Commerce and Industry | 6 |
| Labour and Trade Unions | 6 |
| Europeans | 3 |
| Anglo-Indians | 2 |
| University | 1 |
| Tribal | 1 |
| Total | 215 |
The presiding officer of the Assembly was called theSpeaker of the Assembly.
The firstlegislative assembly election in the presidency was held in February 1937. TheIndian National Congress obtained a majority by winning 159 of 215 seats.C. Rajagopalachari became the first elected chief minister of the Presidency under the provincial autonomy system guaranteed by the Government of India Act 1935. The first assembly was constituted in July 1937.Bulusu Sambamurti and A. Rukmani Lakshmipathi were elected as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively.[3]
The first assembly lasted its term until February 1943, but the Congress cabinet resigned in October 1939, protesting India's participation inWorld War II. From 1939 to 1946, Madras was under the direct rule of the governor and no elections were held in 1943 when the assembly's term expired. Next elections were held only in1946, when a political compromise was reached between the Congress and viceroyLord Wavell.[4][5][6] The second assembly of the presidency was constituted in April 1946 andJ. Shivashanmugam Pillai was elected as the speaker. The Congress won an absolute majority in the elections and again formed the Government.[6] On 15 August 1947, India became independent and the newIndian Constitution came into effect on 26 January 1950. Madras Presidency becameMadras State and the existing assembly and government were retained till new elections could be held in 1951.[7]
In theRepublic of India, the Madras State Legislative Assembly continued to be the lower house in a bicameral legislature. Thefirst election to the assembly on the basis ofuniversal adult suffrage was held in January 1952. According to the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies (Madras) Order, 1951, made by the President under sections 6 and 9 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the assembly's strength was 375 members elected from 309 constituencies. Out of the 309 constituencies in the undividedMadras State, 66 were two member constituencies, 62 of which had one seat reserved forScheduled Caste candidates and 4 forScheduled Tribe candidates.[8][9] The two member constituencies were established in accordance to Article 332 of theIndian Constitution. The voting method and the plurality electoral formula were defined in The Representation of People Act, 1950.[10] These constituencies were larger in size and had greater number of voters (more than 1,00,000)[11] when compared to general constituencies. Multiple members were elected only in the 1952 and 1957 elections as double member representation was abolished in 1961 by the enactment of Two-Member Constituencies Abolition Act (1961).[12] Of the 375 seats, 143 were from what later becameAndhra state, 29 were fromMalabar, 11 from South Canara (part of present-dayKarnataka) and the remaining 190 belonged toTamil Nadu.
On 1 October 1953, a separate Andhra State consisting of the Telugu-speaking areas of the composite Madras State was formed and the Kannada-speaking area ofBellary District was merged with the thenMysore State. This reduced the strength of the Legislative Assembly to 231. On 1 November 1956, theStates Reorganisation Act took effect and consequently the constituencies in the erstwhileMalabar District were merged with theKerala State. This further reduced the strength to 190. The Tamil-speaking area of Kerala (present dayKanyakumari district) andSengottai taluk were added to Madras State. According to the new Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order 1956, made by the Delimitation Commission of India under the provisions of the State Reorganisation Act of 1956, the strength of the assembly was increased to 205.[8]
The 1957 elections were conducted for these 205 seats. In 1959, as result ofThe Andhra Pradesh and Madras (Alteration of Boundaries) Act 1959, one member from the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly was allotted to Madras increasing its Legislative Assembly strength to 206. The 1962 elections were conducted for these 206 seats. In 1965, the elected strength of the assembly was increased to 234 by the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 1965. In addition to the 234, the assembly also has one nominated member representing theAnglo-Indian community. From 1965, the number of members has remained constant. In 1969, Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu and subsequently the assembly came to be known as the "Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly". The Legislative Council was abolished with effect from 1 November 1986 through an Act of Parliament titled as The Tamil Nadu Legislative Council (Abolition) Act, 1986. With the abolition of the council, the legislature became a unicameral body and remained so for the next 24 years. Of the fourteen assemblies that have been constituted so far, four (the sixth, seventh, ninth and tenth) have been dismissed by the Central Government usingArticle 356 of the Indian Constitution.[8] This State Assembly is unique because, since 1996, the actual leader of the official opposition party, though he or she is an official member of the house, has chosen mostly to sign the attendance register outside but not attend the house proceedings.M. Karunanidhi, J. Jayalalithaa, andVijayakant conducted themselves in this manner, unless an extremely important situation happened. OnceM. K. Stalin became the leader of the opposition in 2016, the leader of the opposition always came and participated fully in the House. Following the 2021 elections, the leader of the oppositionEdappadi K. Palaniswami, also attended the house.
The Legislative Assembly is seated at theFort St. George,Chennai. Fort St. George has historically been the seat of theGovernment of Tamil Nadu since colonial times. During 1921–37, the precursor to the assembly – Madras Legislative Council, met at the council chambers within the fort. Between 14 July 1937 – 21 December 1938, the assembly met at theSenate House of theUniversity of Madras and between 27 January 1938 – 26 October 1939 in the Banqueting Hall (later renamed asRajaji Hall) in the Government Estate complex atMount Road. During 1946–52, it moved back to the Fort St. George. In 1952, the strength of the assembly rose to 375, after the constitution of the first assembly, and it was briefly moved into temporary premises at the government estate complex. This move was made in March 1952, as the existing assembly building only had aseating capacity of 260. Then on 3 May 1952, it moved into the newly constructed assembly building in the same complex. The assembly functioned from the new building (later renamed as "Kalaivanar Arangam") during 1952–56. However, with the reorganisation of states and formation of Andhra, the strength came down to 190 and the assembly moved back to Fort St. George in 1956. From December 1956 till January 2010, the Fort remained the home to the assembly.[13][14][15]
In 2004, during the 12th assembly, the AIADMK Government underJ. Jayalalithaa made unsuccessful attempts to shift the assembly, first to the location of Queen Mary's College and later to theAnna University campus,Guindy. Both attempts were withdrawn after public opposition.[16] During the 13th Assembly, the DMK government led byM. Karunanidhi proposed a new plan to shift the assembly and the government secretariat to anew building in the Omandurar Government Estate. In 2007, the German architectural firm GMP International won the design competition to design and construct the new assembly complex. Construction began in 2008 and was completed in 2010. The new assembly building was opened and the assembly started functioning in it from March 2010.[16][17][18][19] After AIADMK's victory in the 2011 elections, the assembly shifted back to Fort St. George.[20][21][22]
List of historical locations where the Tamil Nadu Legislature has been housed:
| Duration | Location |
|---|---|
| 11 July 1921 – 13 July 1937 | Council Chamber,Fort St. George,Chennai |
| 14 July 1937 – 21 December 1937 | Beveridge Hall,Senate House,Chennai |
| 27 January 1938 – 26 October 1939 | Multipurpose Hall,Rajaji Hall,Chennai |
| 24 May 1946 – 27 March 1952 | Council Chamber,Fort St. George,Chennai |
| 3 May 1952 – 27 December 1956 | Multipurpose Hall,Kalaivanar Arangam,Chennai |
| 29 April 1957 – 30 March 1959 | Assembly Chamber,Fort St. George,Chennai |
| 20 April 1959 – 30 April 1959 | Multipurpose Hall, Arranmore Palace,Udhagamandalam |
| 31 August 1959 – 11 January 2010 | Assembly Chamber,Fort St. George,Chennai |
| 19 March 2010 – 10 February 2011 | Assembly Chamber,Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly-Secretariat Complex,Chennai |
| 23 May 2011 – 13 September 2020 | Assembly Chamber,Fort St. George,Chennai |
| 14 September 2020 – 13 September 2021 | Multipurpose Hall,Kalaivanar Arangam,Chennai |
| 5 January 2022 – present | Assembly Chamber,Fort St. George,Chennai |
In the 1952 election, no party achieved a majority in the assembly, soC. Rajagopalachari became the first and only non-electedchief minister. In the 1967 election,C. N. Annadurai was elected to theLok Sabha and not to the assembly. He resigned as amember of parliament and was elected to thestate legislative council to become chief minister.
| Alliance | Political party | No. of MLAs | Leader of the party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government INDIA Seats:158 | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | 133 | M. K. Stalin (Chief Minister) | ||
| Indian National Congress | 17 | S. Rajesh Kumar | |||
| Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi | 4 | Sinthanai Selvan | |||
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 2 | P. Mahalingam | |||
| Communist Party of India | 2 | T. Ramachandran | |||
| Opposition NDA Seats:65 | All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | 61 | Edappadi K. Palaniswami (Leader of the Opposition) | ||
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 4 | Nainar Nagenthran | |||
| Others Seats:9 | Pattali Makkal Katchi | 5 | G. K. Mani | ||
| Independent | 4 | O. Panneerselvam | |||
| Vacant Seat:2 | 2 | N/A | |||
| Total | 234 | – | |||
The following standing committee of the house was constituted on 29 June 2024.
| No. | Name | Chairman | No. of members (Excluding chairman) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Business Advisory Committee | M. Appavu | 16 | |
| 2 | Committee on Rules | M. Appavu | 16 | |
| 3 | Committee of Privileges | K. Pitchandi | 16 | |
| 4 | Committee on Estimates | S. Gandhirajan | 19 | |
| 5 | Committee on Public Accounts | K. Selvaperunthagai | 19 | |
| 6 | Committee on Public Undertakings | A. P. Nandakumar | 17 | |
| 7 | Committee on Delegated Legislation | G. V. Markandayan | 11 | |
| 8 | Committee on Government Assurances | T. Velmurugan | 11 | |
| 9 | House Committee | I. Paranthamen | 17 | |
| 10 | Committee on Petitions | K. Ramachandran | 10 | |
| 11 | Library Committee | J. L. Eswarappan | 9 | |
| 11 | Committee on PapersLaid on the Table of the House | R. Lakshmanan | 10 | |
| No. | Portrait of | Unveiled | Ruling party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| On | By | ||||
| 1 | C. Rajagopalachari | 24 June 1948 | Jawaharlal Nehru | Indian National Congress | |
| 2 | Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi | 23 August 1948 | C. Rajagopalachari | ||
| 3 | Thiruvalluvar | 22 March 1964 | Zakir Husain | ||
| 4 | C. N. Annadurai | 6 October 1969 | Indira Gandhi | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |
| 5 | K. Kamaraj | 18 August 1977 | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |
| 6 | E. V. Ramasami | 9 August 1980 | Jothi Venkatachalam | ||
| 7 | B. R. Ambedkar | ||||
| 8 | U. Muthuramalingam | ||||
| 9 | M. Muhammad Ismail | ||||
| 10 | M. G. Ramachandran | 31 January 1992 | J. Jayalalithaa | ||
| 11 | J. Jayalalithaa | 12 February 2018 | P. Dhanapal | ||
| 12 | S. S. Ramaswami | 19 July 2019 | Edappadi K. Palaniswami | ||
| 13 | V. O. Chidambaram | 23 February 2021 | |||
| 14 | P. Subbarayan | ||||
| 15 | Omanthur P. Ramaswamy | ||||
| 16 | M. Karunanidhi | 2 August 2021 | Ram Nath Kovind | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |
The bust of P. Rajagopalachari and L. D. Swamikannu Pillai, former presidents of theMadras Legislative Council, adorns the assembly lobby.
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