1977 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election

← 1971 10 June 1977 1980 →
All 234 seats in theTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly 118 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	61.58%
First party Second party   Leader M. G. Ramachandran M. Karunanidhi Party AIADMK DMK Alliance AIADMK+ N/A Leader's seat Aruppukottai Anna Nagar Seats won 144 48 Seat change new 136 Popular vote 5,734,692 4,258,771 Percentage 33.52% 24.89% Swing new party 23.69%
1977 election map (by constituencies)
Alliance wise Result
CM before election President's rule Nonpartisan ElectedCM M. G. Ramachandran AIADMK

Thesixth legislative assembly election of Tamil Nadu was held on10 June 1977.All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) won the election, defeating its rivalDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).M. G. Ramachandran (commonly known as M.G.R), the AIADMK founder and a prominentTamil film actor, was sworn in as Chief Minister for the first time. The election was a four-cornered contest among the AIADMK, DMK, theIndian National Congress (INC), and theJanata Party.

In1972, M.G.R founded the AIADMK after being expelled from the DMK due to differences with DMK leaderM. Karunanidhi. On31 January 1976, Karunanidhi's government was dismissed by the central government under Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi, citing non-cooperation underMISA. This led to the imposition ofPresident's rule in the state. Karunanidhi had opposed the Emergency and allied with theJanata Party, founded byJayaprakash Narayan. M.G.R served as Chief Minister until his death in1987, winning re-election in the1980 and1984 elections.

M.G.R's success set a precedent for actors entering politics, inspiring Telugu superstarN.T.R to follow suit in1982 and win theAndhra Pradesh assembly elections, subsequently becoming theChief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Since then, no other actor has replicated M.G.R's achievements in electoral politics.

The DMK gradually weakened in the years following the previous election due to several splits resulting from the exit of influential leaders, includingM.G.R. The party's popularity was further undermined by widespread corruption allegations, which M.G.R highlighted, given his close relationship with theIndian National Congress (INC). Tensions within the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam began to surface before the 1971 election, but were put aside to win the elections in a standing record landslide margin.

K. A. Mathiazhagan was removed from his position as Minister of Finance, as he was seen as a significant threat toKarunanidhi's leadership. In 1972, influential Dalit leaderSathyavani Muthu left the party, citing a lack of concern for Dalit issues, and subsequently formed theThazhthapattor Munnetra Kazhagam. Treasurer of the party M.G.R was expelled on10 October 1972 following disciplinary action for his open criticisms of the party leadership regarding alleged corruption and authoritarian behavior. He then joined and lead theAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), which won theDindigul by-election in 1973.^[1]

In March 1977,V. R. Nedunchezhiyan and several senior leaders also left the DMK to form theMakkal Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.^[2]

Emergency, which was declared in June 1975 had a mixed reception in Tamil Nadu.Jayaprakash Narayan's opposition movement did not receive much support in Tamil Nadu due to his association with the DMK government, which had its own trouble due to accusations of corruption.K. Kamaraj did not come in support of Jayaprakash Narayan due to his association with DMK despite the fact he disapproved ofIndira Gandhi's actions. DMK executive council called the Emergency unnecessary and undemocratic on 27 June and party leaders condemned it in several statewide meetings. Emergency regulations and censorship were not strictly enforced in Tamil Nadu unlike in other states.All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam andCommunist Party of India continued to supportIndira Gandhi.M. G. Ramachandran even visitedDelhi to extend his support to Indira Gandhi. It was under these circumstances Karunanidhi's government was dismissed by theGovernment of India on 31 January 1976.^[1]

The sixth legislative assembly election is the first election to the body after the deaths of the two most prominentChief Ministers and political supremos of erstwhileMadras state,Rajaji (pictured left) andK. Kamaraj (right).

Kamaraj, leader ofIndian National Congress (Organisation), who remarked in 1972, "Randu Katchigalum Orey Kuttaiyil Oorina Mattaigal (both parties, the DMK and the AIADMK, are like fronds dipped in the same bog or tarred by the same brush)."^[3] died in 1975. Indian National Congress (Indira) faction could not establish a foothold in Tamil Nadu until his death. After his death, Indian National Congress (Organisation) lost its identity as a party, and a large number of its members led byG. K. Moopanar merged with Indira Congress.^[4] The remaining chose not to join with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, but rather joined the Janata Party and later remained largely uncommitted.^[5]Swatantra Party lost much of its power after the death ofC. Rajagopalachari in 1972 and did not contest the election. Most of its members joined the newly formedJanata Party.^[6]

This election was a four cornered contest. The AIADMK allied itself with theCommunist Party of India (Marxist), whileINC(I) andCommunist Party of India (CPI) contested as allies. The DMK andJanata Party (JNP) contested the elections alone. The AIADMK did not field any candidate in theUsilampatti Constituency in support of theForward Bloc leaderP.K. Mookiah Thevar. Similarly the AIADMK also supported theIndian Union Muslim League (IUML) candidateM. Abdul Latheef in theVaniyambadi Constituency. In theparliamentary elections that occurred just three months prior to this elections, there had been two major alliances – the AIADMK led AIADMK-INC-CPI coalition and the DMK led DMK-NCO-JNP-CPM coalition. But in the months that followed the parliamentary election, these coalitions fell apart.^[7]

Party/Alliance				Flag	Electoral symbol	Portrait	Leader	Seats contested
	AIADMK-led Alliance		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam				M. G. Ramachandran	200
			Communist Party of India (Marxist)				A. Balasubramaniam	20
			All India Forward Bloc				P. K. Mookiah Thevar	1
			Indian Union Muslim League				K. M. Kader Mohideen	1
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam						M. Karunanidhi	230
	Indira Congress-led Alliance		Indira Congress				G. K. Moopanar	198
			Communist Party of India				M. Kalyanasundaram	32
	Janata Party						P. Ramachandran	233

Polling for the election was held on 10 June 1977. Turnout among the eligible voters was 61.58%.

Summary of the 1977 June Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election results

Alliance/Party		Seats won	Change	Popular Vote	Vote %	Adj. %‡
AIADMK+ alliance		144	+142	5,734,692	33.5%
AIADMK		130	+120	5,194,876	30.4%	35.4%
CPI(M)		12	+12	477,835	2.8%	33.0%
FBL		1	–	35,361	0.2%	62.0%
IND		1	–	26,620	0.2%	42.9%
DMK		48	-136	4,258,771	24.9%
DMK		48	-136	4,258,771	24.9%	25.3%
Congress alliance		32	+24	3,491,490	20.4%
INC		27	+27	2,994,535	17.5%	20.8%
CPI		5	-3	496,955	2.9%	20.4%
Janata		10	+10	2,851,884	16.7%
JNP		10	+10	2,851,884	16.7%	16.8%
Others		0	-8	751,712	4.4%
IND		0	-8	751,712	4.4%	–
Total		234	–	17,108,146	100%	–

Key:

• Elections in Tamil Nadu
• Legislature of Tamil Nadu
• Government of Tamil Nadu

• Election Commission of India

• State Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu
• 1970s in Tamil Nadu
• 1977 State Assembly elections in India

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from June 2020
• Use Indian English from June 2020
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images
• Pages using multiple image with unknown parameters