2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Election

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All 234 elected seats in theTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly 118 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	73.63% ( 1.18%)[1]
Majority party Minority party   Leader M. K. Stalin Edappadi K. Palaniswami Party DMK AIADMK Alliance SPA[2] NDA[3] Leader since 2017 2017 Leader's seat Kolathur Edappadi Last election 98 136 Seats won 159 75 Seat change 61 61 Popular vote 2,09,82,088 1,83,63,499 Percentage 45.70% 39.29% Swing 6.31% 7.59%
Party wise results Alliance wise results
Partywise structure Alliance wise structure Structure of theTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly after the election
Chief Minister before election Edappadi K. Palaniswami AIADMK ElectedChief Minister M. K. Stalin DMK

TheSixteenth Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Election was held on 6 April 2021, to electrepresentatives from the234 constituencies in theIndian State ofTamil Nadu. TheDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won the election, ending the decade-long reign of theAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The DMK's leaderM. K. Stalin became the eighthChief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and the 12th Chief Minister since the1956 reorganization. He replacedEdappadi K. Palaniswami of the AIADMK.

The poll was Tamil Nadu's first assembly election after the demises of the two most prominentChief Ministers in the state's modern history,J. Jayalilithaa—general secretary of the AIADMK, andM. Karunanidhi—president of the DMK, who died in 2016 and 2018 respectively. With the AIADMK winning the2016 election, Jayalalithaa became the Chief Minister and served for almost six months. Upon her death,O. Panneerselvam took charge as the Chief Minister, shortly after which Palaniswami was sworn in instead in 2017, who served till the end of the15th assembly's tenure. TheElection Commission of India announced the schedule for the elections to the 16thTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on 26 February 2021.

The DMK continued itsSecular Progressive Alliance (SPA) with theIndian National Congress, the Communist parties and many others, and named Stalin as its candidate for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Office. The AIADMK joined theNational Democratic Alliance (NDA) of theBharatiya Janata Party, theruling party of theUnion Government of India, with Palanisami as its Chief Ministerial candidate. The polling was held on 6 April 2021 underCOVID-19 guidelines. The state recorded avoter turnout of 73.63%. Surveys before and after the polls predicted the Stalin-led SPA to win the elections with a large margin. The votes were counted on 2 May 2021; the SPA amassed 159 seats, with the DMK alone winning in 133 constituencies, securing anabsolute majority for the first time in25 years. The NDA won 75 seats, out of which 66 were of the AIADMK. The DMK formed theGovernment of Tamil Nadu for the sixth time;Stalin and his council of ministers were sworn in on 7 May 2021.

Thestate ofTamil Nadu is divided into234 assembly constituencies, each of which elects a member (called anMLA) to represent it at the state'sunicamerallegislative assembly, as per Article 168 of theConstitution of India. TheTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly convenes atFort St. George,Chennai. The member that manages to receive the support of the majority of the members of the assembly (that is the Chief Ministerial candidate of the party that secures more than 50% of the seats), which is a minimum of 118 members, is appointed as theChief Minister of Tamil Nadu, who is the executive head of theGovernment of Tamil Nadu. TheGovernor of Tamil Nadu, the state's ceremonial head, will invite the Chief-Minister-elect and hisCouncil of Ministers to be sworn in, to lead thestate government for a term of the next five years.

Tamil Nadu's partisan politics have been dominated by its two regionalDravidian parties,Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) andAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), for the last 50 years (since1967). Each recognized party in India is given a polling symbol by theElection Commission of India, an independent and neutral body of officers that conducts and regulates all the elections in the country. The DMK contests with theRising Sun symbol, while the AIADMK contests with theTwo Leaves.

The legislative assembly of Tamil Nadu goes to polls alongside the legislative assemblies of three other Indian states, namelyAssam,Kerala, andWest Bengal, and that of theunion territory ofPuducherry.

The sixteenth legislative assembly election is the first election to the body after the deaths of the two most prominentChief Ministers and political supremos of modern Tamil Nadu,J. Jayalalithaa (pictured left) andM. Karunanidhi (right).

Since the death of AIADMK founderM.G Ramachandran (who had been in power since1977) in 1987, DMK'sM Karunanidhi (who came into prominence in 1969 following the death of DMK founderC.N Annadurai) & AIADMK'sJ Jayalalitha heavily dominated the state's politics. DMK won the1989,1996 &2006 elections while AIADMK won the1991,2001 &2011 elections. In2016, AIADMK retained its majority with 136 seats, while the DMK increased its strength to 98 seats. Jayalalitha became the second incumbent Chief minister of Tamil Nadu to be re-elected back in power since MGR's re-election in1984.^[5] 2021's election of the sixteenth assembly election is the first state election after the deaths of Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi, who died in 2016 and 2018 respectively.

Following Jayalalithaa's demise fromcardiac arrest on 5 December 2016,O. Panneerselvam of the AIADMK became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the third time. The first two times he attained the post (21 September 2001 to 2 March 2002, and 28 September 2014 to 23 May 2015) was when Jayalalithaa was forcibly removed from office twice due to the lawsuit against her. He served as the Acting Chief Minister during Jayalalithaa's hospitalization in 2016. However, soon after swearing-in, Panneerselvam rebelled against the influence ofV. K. Sasikala, a long-time friend and close aide of Jayalalithaa, inside the AIADMK party, and deemed her a threat to his Chief Ministership, exposing the factionalism inside the party. In a meeting of the party's general council held on 29 December 2016, the first meeting after Jayalalithaa's death, Sasikala was appointed as the party's temporary general secretary.^[6] On 5 February 2017, all the MLAs of the AIADMK unanimously elected Sasikala as the Legislative Assembly leader of the AIADMK, making her the Chief-Minister-elect officially.^[7]

On 6 February 2017, Panneerselvam submitted his resignation letter to thenGovernor of Tamil Nadu,C. Vidyasagar Rao, who accepted the resignation but instructed him to continue to functioning as Chief Minister "until alternate arrangements are made", awaiting the pending verdict ofthe 18-year-long trial regarding the disproportionate assets of Jayalalithaa and Sasikala. Later Pannerselvam made mediation in Jayalalithaa's memorial on 7 February and he was coerced into resignation. He called it as "Dharmayudam". Later in the 9 February, Sasikala met the Governor and laid claims to the Chief Ministership, by submitting the list of AIADMK legislators who back her. Reports stated Sasikala had those MLAs sequestered at a resort inSouth Chennai named Koovathur.^[8]

On 14 February 2017, theSupreme Court of India pronounced Sasikala and her relatives guilty of criminally conspiring, laundering and amassing illicit wealth worth about₹66.44 crore (equivalent to₹363 crore or US$43 million in 2023) in the 1990s, and sentenced them to serve a four-year jail term atCentral Prison, Bangalore, giving the convicts 24 hours to surrender.^[9] This restoredin toto her earlier conviction in the case^[10] delivered on 27 September 2014.^[11] Proceedings against Jayalalithaa had been abated and dismissed on account of her death. The conviction effectively ended Sasikala's Chief Ministerial ambitions.

Following Sasikala's conviction, the Governor rejected her claims to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. In her ticking 24-hour surrender time-limit and capacity as the general secretary of the AIADMK, Sasikala convened the party's MLAs, who unanimously electedEdappadi K. Palaniswami, a then supporter of Sasikala, as the new Chief Minister. She also appointed her nephew and former treasurer of the party,T. T. V. Dhinakaran, as the party's deputy general secretary. Palaniswami as sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu the next day, replacing Panneerselvam.^[12]

On 23 March 2017, theElection commission of India designated the two factions separately; Panneerselvam's faction known as "AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma)", while Dhinakaran-Palaniswami's faction known as "AIADMK (Amma)". By-polls were announced at theDr. Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency, which was vacated due to Jayalalithaa's death. Dhinakaran was named candidate by his faction. However, the Election Commission canceled the by-polls after evidence of large-scale bribing by the ruling AIADMK (Amma) surfaced. On 17 April 2017,Delhi Police registered a case against Dhinakaran for allegedly attempting to bribe the Election Commission into giving the AIADMK's significantTwin Leaves symbol to his faction. Dhinakaran was granted bail on the grounds that the police failed to identify the bribed officer.

In the following months, the Chief Minister had a fallout with Dhinakaran. Palaniswami pronounced Dhinakaran's appointment as deputy general secretary "invalid" on 17 August 2017, and ousted him from the party.^[13]

On 21 August 2017, it was reported that the Paneerselvam faction of AIADMK had decided to merge back with the Palaniswami faction, under the terms that Sasikala would be expelled from the party.^[14] On 21 August 2017, both Palaniswami and Paneerselvam factions of the AIADMK reunited, with the leaders assuming co-leadership of the party. Panneerselvam sworn in as theDeputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu and the coordinator of the AIADMK. Palaniswami was dubbed the joint coordinator of the party. Mainstream media and publications suspected the involvement of theBharatiya Janata Party, the ruling party of theUnion Government of India, in the AIADMK's merger. This marked the first time the BJP began to play an influential role in the Tamil Nadu politics, acting as the mediator that united the two factions. Dhinakaran and his supporters continued to dub themselves the "real AIADMK".^[15][16]

On 22 August 2017, 18 MLAs of the AIADMK pledged allegiance toDhinakaran and submitted letters to the Governor, expressinglack of confidence in Palaniswami and withdrawing their support to the Palaniswami-led government.^[17] Immediately, those MLAs were expelled from the AIADMK. TheSpeaker of the fifteenth Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly,P. Dhanapal, also disqualified those MLAs from their offices, citingthe Constitution Act of 1985, which prevents the instability caused by democratically elected representatives in India's legislatures shifting allegiance from the parties they supported at the time of election, or disobeying their parties' decisions at critical times, by rendering their seats vacant. This resulted in a long legal battle, at the end of which, theMadras High Court, the highest court of Tamil Nadu, gave a verdict in the Speaker's favour and confirmed the disqualification of the 19 legislators. Following these events, Sasikala was expelled from the party on 12 September 2017, with her position as interim general secretary disputed and abolished. Instead, the late Jayalalithaa was named the eternal general secretary of AIADMK.^[18]

On 23 November 2017, the Election Commission of India granted theTwo Leaves symbol to the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam led AIADMK, authorizing the faction as the original AIADMK, and announcedby-polls to the vacant seat of Radhakrishnan Nagar on 21 December 2017. Dhinakaran contested in the constituency as anindependent candidate, and won the election with a huge margin, with around 40,000 votes more than his closest competitor. He became the first independent candidate in Tamil Nadu history to win a bypoll, claiming 50.32% of the total votes, defeating the ruling AIADMK and the opposition DMK.^[19][20]

In March 2018, Dinakaran formed the new partyAmma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK), with the goal of obtaining control of the AIADMK.^[21]

After Karunanidhi's demise on 7 August 2018, Karunanidhi's son and political heirM. K. Stalin, who has served as theDeputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and theMayor of Chennai, became the unquestioned president of the DMK. The Election Commission of India announcedby-polls to 24 vacant seats in the state, alongside the2019 Indian parliamentary elections, which elects 543 members across India to itslower house, theLok Sabha. The DMK-ledSecular Progressive Alliance (nationally,United Progressive Alliance headed by theIndian National Congress) swept Tamil Nadu in the Lok Sabha elections, winning a landslide 38 seats out ofthe state's 39 parliamentary constituencies. The AIADMK, which contested the election in an alliance with theBJP and the regionalDMDK, won only one seat (Theni).^[22] This marked a huge shift from the2014 parliamentary elections, in which the AIADMK had won 37 seats solo, whereas the NDA won two and the DMK none.^[23] In the by-polls, out of the 24 formerly AIADMK seats in the state assembly, the Stalin-led DMK won over 13 seats while the AIADMK won 10, indicating a shift in the political mindset of the state's voters. Although the incumbent AIADMK government lost 13 of its seats to the opposition party, the 10 retained seats (with new MLAs to represent them) were enough to maintain the AIADMK's absolute majority at the Legislative Assembly.

The Tussle started in October 2020 when Minister for Milk and Dairy developmentK. T. Rajenthra Bhalaji tweeted that the party should go for elections, with EPS as the CM candidate. A day before Balaji’s tweet, Cooperative MinisterSellur K. Raju said, “MLAs will elect the chief minister” when AIADMK wins the 2021 elections.^[24] Finally, then DCM Panneerselvam made the announcement that Palaniswami would be the chief ministerial candidate of the AIADMK on 20 October 2020 morning at a much awaited meeting at the AIADMK office in Chennai.^[25]

In January 2021,VK Sasikala was released from jail after completion of her prison time. In February 2021, she announced her intention to actively involve herself in the state's politics. Nevertheless, on 3 March 2021, she announced her decision to quit politics, to everyone's surprise.^[26]

In order to improve the economy after theCOVID-19 pandemic, both the AIADMK and DMK promised jobs in their manifestos. Industries, especially MSMEs, have been hit hard by the slowdown in the economy.^[27] The AIADMK-led government approved a sub-quota in MBC of 10.5% for theVanniyars, who are particularly dominant in northern Tamil Nadu.^[28] The AIADMK & BJP also fulfilled the demand of grouping 7 castes under Devendrakula Velalar an agricultural community found in Tamil Nadu.^[29] Recent events such as theThoothukudi protest in 2018 against the district'sSterlite Copper plant and theKattupalli fishermen's agitation against the expansion of Adani port have also made environmental concerns, especiallyclimate change, a topic of debate in the elections.^[30]

On 26 April 2021, theMadras High Court remarked that theElection Commission should be put on murder charges for allowing rallies. Further, the court said that the Election Commission was the only institution responsible for the deadly second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India as the elections of four states and a union territory were being held when second wave was striking India.^[31]

Election Manifesto plays a key role in determining the voting behaviour of the voters in the Tamil Nadu Electoral Politics.^[32] Enabling people with information about manifestos, promises, and candidate details through technology can ensure that it reaches a huge number of people.^[33][34] Global Shapers Chennai, a non-partisan group powered by theWorld Economic Forum has released theTN Election Promises 2021 platform.^[35] The platform provides the voters with data and insights on thepromises made by different parties, constituency-wisecandidate background details (assets, education, criminal cases, etc.), and helps them compare the promises by categorizing them into different focus areas such as agriculture, education, etc., to help make an informed voting decision.^{[citation needed]}

According to the ECI, 62.6 million people were eligible to vote in upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.^[36][37]Sholinganallur assembly has the highest number of eligible voters with 694,845 voters.^[38][37]

  Secular Progressive Alliance

Party		Flag	Symbol	Leader	Seats contested
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam			M. K. Stalin	173	188
	Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam			Vaiko	6
	Kongunadu Makkal Desia Katchi			E. R. Eswaran	3
	Manithaneya Makkal Katchi			M. H. Jawahirullah	2
	All India Forward Bloc			P. V. Kathiravan	1
	Tamizhaga Valvurimai Katchi			T. Velmurugan	1
	Makkal Viduthalai Katchi			S. K. Murugavel Rajan	1
	Aathi Thamizhar Peravai			R. Athiyamaan	1
	Indian National Congress			K. S. Alagiri	25
	Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi			Thol. Thirumavalavan	6
	Communist Party of India			R. Mutharasan	6
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)			K. Balakrishnan	6
	Indian Union Muslim League			K. M. Kader Mohideen	3
Total					234

  National Democratic Alliance

Party		Flag	Symbol	Leader	Seats contested
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam			Edappadi K. Palaniswami O. Panneerselvam	179	191
	Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar)			G. K. Vasan	6
	Perunthalaivar Makkal Katchi			N. R. Dhanapalan	1
	Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam			B. John Pandian	1
	Moovendar Munnetra Kazhagam			Sridhar Vandayar	1
	All India Moovendar Munnani Kazhagam			N. Sethuraman	1
	Puratchi Bharatham Katchi			M. Jaganmoorthy	1
	Pasumpon Desiya Kazhagam			Jothi Muthuramalingam	1
	Pattali Makkal Katchi			G. K. Mani	23
	Bharatiya Janata Party			L. Murugan	20
Total					234

  AMMK-Led Alliance

Party		Flag	Symbol	Leader	Contesting seats
	Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam			T. T. V. Dhinakaran	165
	Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam			Vijayakanth	60
	Social Democratic Party of India			V. M. S. Mohamed Mubarak	6
	All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen			T. S. Vakeel Ahmed	3
Total					234

  MNM-Led Alliance

Party		Flag	Symbol	Leader	Contesting seats
	Makkal Needhi Maiam			Kamal Haasan	140
	All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi			R. Sarathkumar	33
	Tamilaga Makkal Jananayaka Katchi			K.M. Shareef	9
	Jananayaka Dravidia Munnetra kazhgam				8
	Janata Dal (Secular)			H. D. Deve Gowda	3
	Kalappai Makkal Iyakkam				1
	Indiya Jananayaka Katchi			T. R. Paarivendhar	40
Total					234

Party		Flag	Symbol	Leader	Contesting seats
	Naam Tamilar Katchi			Seeman	234
	Bahujan Samaj Party			K. Armstrong	162
	Puthiya Tamilagam			K. Krishnasamy	60
	Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation			Dipankar Bhattacharya	12
	Samata Party[39]			Uday Mandal	1

The DMK went on a campaign tour titledVidiyalai Nokki Stalinin Kural, which began on 20 December 2020 atThirukkuvalai, the birthplace of M. Karunanidhi.^[40] Palaniswami started the AIADMK's campaign at his hometown,Edappadi, on 19 December 2020.^[41] CM Palanisami also launched his "Vetrinadai Podum Tamilagam" campaign followed by "Thodarattu Vetrinadai" campaign.

BJP politician and the Chief Minister ofUttar Pradesh,Yogi Adityanath, addressed a public rally inCoimbatore in presence ofAnnamalai K to supportVanathi Srinivasan on March 31, 2021.^[42] The BJP and theHindu Munnani organized a bike rally where they shouted communal slogans. The BJP supporters also reportedly pelted stones at Muslim shops in the area.^[43] BJP candidateVanathi Srinivasan described the stone-pelting incident as a minor incident while MNM presidentKamal Haasan said that "riot specialists must be defeated through unity".^[44][45]

Candidates from recognized parties contested in 234 constituencies on 6 April. TheIndian National Congress candidate forSrivilliputhur Assembly constituency, P. S. W. Madhava Rao, died on 11 April 2021 after testing positive forCOVID-19.^[58]

The state recorded 73.83%voter turnout, which is 1.18% lesser than the preceding2016 election.Karur district recorded the highest voter turnout amongst the state's districts, with 83.92%.Chennai district turned out the lowest (59.06%).

TheElection Commission of India, on 13 April 2021, declared the polling held at the polling station No. 92 in the Velachery Assembly constituency "void" under 58 (1)(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The commission ordered a repoll in the station on the basis of a report submitted by the returning officers and observers. Fresh voting was conducted on 17 April 2021 between 7 am and 7 pmIST. The repoll follows the suspension of threeGreater Chennai Corporation officials for transporting twoEVMs and oneVVPAT machine of booth number 92 on a two-wheeler in the Velachery-Tharamani road.^{[59][60][61][62]}

TheElection Commission on March 24, banned the publication of anyexit poll from 27 March till 7:30 PM of 29 April to prevent any influence on voters in thegeneral election of West Bengal andby-elections in other states.^[63][64] On April 26, the ban period was advanced to 7:00 PM.^[65]

The results were announced by theElection Commission of India on 2 May 2021, starting at 9 AMIST. The DMK won 133 constituencies on its own, receiving asimple majority in the sixteenth Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, whereas itsSPA alliance saw victory in a total of 159 constituencies. Meanwhile, theNDA alliance captured 75 constituencies, out of which the AIADMK had won 66. Other parties, alliances, andindependent candidates did not secure any seats. After spending a decade as theopposition party, the DMK won Tamil Nadu from the AIADMK, which reigned the state for two consecutive terms (2011–2021). The AIADMK assumed the position of the opposition party at the sixteenth Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.^[77][78]

Seats won by party

SPA		Seats	Change	NDA		Seats	Change
DMK		133	44	AIADMK		66	70
INC		18	10	BJP		4	4
VCK		4	4	PMK		5	5
CPI		2	2
CPI(M)		2	2
TOTAL		159	61	TOTAL		75	61

159	75
SPA	NDA

• In Northern Tamil Nadu, theChennai Metropolitan Area and its surroundings proved to be a stronghold of the DMK. The DMK-led SPA completely swept all of the constituencies located inChennai,Thiruvallur, andKanchipuram districts.^[81] While facing tough competition in other parts of the North, the DMK bagged 64 of the region's 78 seats, overcoming the polarization between the AIADMK and the DMK that existed in the region in the 2016 election. The region expressed a strong anti-NDA trend, with the results indicating that the AIADMK did not benefit much from its alliance with thePMK and the 10.5% internal reservation that was granted to theVanniyar community within the Most Backward Community (MBC)quota.^[82]
• The politically sensitive Central Tamil Nadu andKaveri delta region exhibited an overwhelming support for the SPA, with the AIADMK-led NDA winning only four out of the region's 41 seats. The DMK was met with victory in all the seats ofTiruchirappalli,Perambalur,Ariyalur andMayiladuthurai districts, crucially. The resentment that prevailed amongst the region's farmers over the former AIADMK government's inability to resolve agricultural problems in the region has been cited as a reason.^[83]
• ExceptMadurai district, which was equally split between the AIADMK and DMK, much of Southern Tamil Nadu swinged towards the DMK alliance, an anti-incumbent trend compared to 2016, in which the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK (without the BJP) had swept most of the region's seats, exceptKanyakumari district, which remained as an SPA stronghold. The region also gave the DMK its highest victory margin ever, with over 130,000 votes inAthoor constituency where its senior leaderI. Periasamy defeated the PMK candidate.^[84]
• The AIADMK maintained its traditional sway in Western Tamil Nadu, popularly known asKongu Nadu, where the NDA won more than 70% of the constituencies. Most notably, the NDA won in all the constituencies ofCoimbatore andDharmapuri districts.^[85]
• Thecities of Tamil Nadu fuelled the DMK's victory in the election. 2021 exposed "a clearrural-urban divide" in the voting patterns of the state. Trends showed that DMK performed very well in the urban centres than the AIADMK. There are 154 rural, 30semi-urban and 50 urban constituencies in the state. The DMK alliance won 40 of those urban seats, 96 of the rural seats and 23 of the semi-urban seats. Of the 75 seats the AIADMK alliance won, 58 were in rural areas, with only seven in semi-urban and 10 in urban centres. The SPA's strike rate was 80% in urban seats, 76% in semi-urban seats and 62% in rural seats, whereas the NDA's strike rate was 37% in rural seats, 23% in semi-urban seats and 20% in urban seats.^[86]

Palaniswami and his ministers resigned on 3 May 2021, submitting their papers of resignation toBanwarilal Purohit, theGovernor of Tamil Nadu.^[92] During the early hours of the same day, DMK president Stalin paid respects at the memorial of his father and five-time Chief Minister,M. Karunanidhi. Speaking to the journalists gathered there, Stalin stated that he will be sworn in as the Chief Minister in a simplistic ceremony that may be held at theRaj Bhavan, the Governor's residence. He underlined that the DMK will form the government for the sixth time in Tamil Nadu, and will follow the footsteps of Karunanidhi. Stalin added that the DMK's governance "will be such that those who had voted for the party will feel happy voting for it, and even those who did not vote would regret their decision to not have voted for the party".^[93]

After the resignation of Palanisami's administration, officials of thePublic Works Department began resetting theTamil Nadu Secretariat to prepare the campus for the new government under Stalin. The Chief Minister's Office returned all the files to the departments concerned, with the office quarters white-washed and name-boards of former ministers taken down.^[94]

Politicians, celebrities and government officials across India congratulated Stalin on his victory. The out-going Chief Minister Palanisami congratulated Stalin, tweeting: "My best wishes to M.K. Stalin who is going to take oath as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister". In another tweet, Stalin thanked Palanisami and sought his cooperation for "building the best Tamil Nadu".^[93]Narendra Modi, thePrime Minister of India, tweeted that he will work with Stalin to enhance the nation's progress, fulfill the regional interests of Tamil Nadu, and fight theCOVID-19 pandemic.^[95]

On 10 May 2021, the newly elected AIADMK MLAs convened to choose the newLeader of the Opposition, an important post equivalent to a cabinet minister. The meeting was inconclusive, with both Panneerselvam and Palaniswami staking claims to the post, while their supporters hurled charges against each other. This included a prolonged quarrel between the two sections of the party outside the party's head office, causing unrest. Supporters of Palaniswami believed that he should be the Leader of the Opposition due to the party's good performance in the election inwestern Tamil Nadu, the region he hails from; whereas, Panneerselvam's supporters felt that the party fared poorly in other regions of the state due to Palaniswami's wrong policies during his Chief Ministerial tenure.^[96] Eventually, Palaniswami was elected as the Leader of the Opposition.^[97]

After MNM performed unfavorably in its first-ever election, many officials and candidates resigned from the party, such as its vice president Dr. Mahendran, Muruganandam, C K Kumaravel. Mahendran said that "the attitude of Kamal Haasan towards the growth of the party has not been changed even after facing huge loss in the Tamil Nadu assembly election". He cited the presence of "Sankhya solutions" in the party and added that Haasan is being misguided. Others cited "personal reasons".^[98]