| Chief Minister ofTamil Nadu | |
|---|---|
| Tamiḻnāṭu Mutalamaiccar | |
 | |
 | |
| Chief Minister's Office | |
| Style |
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| Type | Head of government |
| Status | Leader of the Executive |
| Abbreviation | CMOTN |
| Member of | |
| Reports to | |
| Residence | 25/9, Chittaranjan Salai,Cenotaph 2nd Lane,Alwarpettai,Chennai – 600018,Tamil Nadu,India. |
| Seat | Office of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Fort St. George,Chennai – 600009,Tamil Nadu,India. |
| Appointer | Governor of Tamil Nadu |
| Formation | 10 April 1952; 73 years ago (1952-04-10) |
| First holder |
|
| Deputy | Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu |
| Website | CMOTN |
Thechief minister of Tamil Nadu is thechief executive of theIndianstate ofTamil Nadu. In accordance with theConstitution of India, thegovernor is a state'sde jure head, butde facto executive authority rests with thechief minister. Following elections to theTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, thestate's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form thegovernment. The governor appoints the chief minister, whosecouncil of ministers arecollectively responsible to the assembly. Given that he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to noterm limits.[2]
Since 1952,Tamil Nadu has had 12chief ministers, 13 includingV. R. Nedunchezhiyan, who twice acted in the role. Thelongest-serving chief minister,M. Karunanidhi fromDravida Munnetra Kazhagam, held the office for over eighteen years in multiple tenures, while he was the one who had the largest gap between two terms (nearly thirteen years).[3] TheAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's formergeneral secretaryJ. Jayalalithaa has the second-longest tenure,[4] and its founderM. G. Ramachandran, the firstactor to become the chief minister inIndia, has the third-longest tenure, while his wifeV. N. Janaki Ramachandran has the shortest tenure (only 23 days).[5][6] There have been four instances ofpresident's rule in Tamil Nadu, most recently in 1991.
Thecurrent incumbent isM. K. Stalin of theDravida Munnetra Kazhagam since 7 May 2021.[7]
TheMadras Presidency, headquartered inFort St. George, India, was apresidency of India that comprised present-dayTamil Nadu, theMalabar region of NorthKerala, thecoastal andRayalaseema regions ofAndhra Pradesh, and theBellary,Dakshina Kannada, andUdupi districts ofKarnataka. It was established in 1653 to be the headquarters of the English settlements on theCoromandel Coast.
The territory under the presidency comprised only Madrasapattinam and its surrounding regions. But, after the Anglo-French wars and the consequent alliance between theEnglish East India Company and theNawab of Arcot, it was expanded to comprise the region from theNorthern Circars toCape Comorin. The governance structure also evolved from a modest secretariat with a single secretary for the Public Department in 1670 to six departments overseen by a chief secretary by 1920.
TheIndian Councils Act 1861 set up theMadras Legislative Council as an advisory body, without powers, through which the colonial administration obtained advice and assistance from able and willing Indian business leaders. But membership was selected (not elected) and was not representative of the masses.
With the enactment of theGovernment of India Act 1919, the first legislature was formed in 1920 aftergeneral elections.[8] The term of thelegislative council was three years. It had 132 members, of whom 34 were nominated by the governor and the rest were elected. Under theGovernment of India Act 1935, abicameral legislature was set up with a legislative assembly consisting of 215 members and a legislative council having 56 members. The first legislative assembly under this act was constituted in July 1937. The legislative council was a permanent body, with a third of its members retiring every 3 years and having the power to decide on bills passed by the assembly.[9]
In 1939, theGovernor-General of India declared India's entry intoWorld War II without consulting theImperial Legislative Council. TheIndian National Congress protested by asking all its elected representatives to resign from governments.[10] Then it came back to power in 1946 after new provincial elections.[11]
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| Chief Ministers of the Madras Presidency | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Elected constituency | Term of office[13] | Council (Election) | Ministry | Appointed by | Political party[a] | |||
| Assumed office | Left office | Time in office | |||||||||
| 1 |  | A. Subbarayalu Reddiar (1855–1921) | Member of theLegislative Council | 17 December 1920 | 11 July 1921[RES] | 206 days | 1st (1920) | Reddiar | Frederic Thesiger | South Indian Liberal Federation | |
| 2 |  | Panaganti Ramarayaningar (1866–1928) | Member of theLegislative Council | 11 July 1921 | 11 September 1923 | 5 years, 145 days | Ramarayaningar I | Rufus Isaacs | |||
| 12 September 1923 | 3 December 1926 | 2nd (1923) | Ramarayaningar II | ||||||||
| 3 |  | P. Subbarayan (1889–1962) | Member of theLegislative Council | 4 December 1926 | 27 October 1930 | 3 years, 327 days | 3rd (1926) | Subbarayan | Edward Wood | Independent | |
| 4 |  | B. Munuswamy Naidu (1885–1935) | Member of theLegislative Council | 27 October 1930 | 4 November 1932[RES] | 2 years, 8 days | 4th (1930) | Naidu | South Indian Liberal Federation | ||
| 5 |  | Ramakrishna Ranga Rao (1901–1978) | Member of theLegislative Council | 5 November 1932 | 5 November 1934 | 3 years, 151 days | Rao I | Freeman Freeman-Thomas | |||
| 5 November 1934 | 4 April 1936[RES] | 5th (1934) | Rao II | ||||||||
| 6 |  | P. T. Rajan (1892–1974) | Member of theLegislative Council | 4 April 1936 | 24 August 1936[RES] | 142 days | Rajan | ||||
| (5) | | Ramakrishna Ranga Rao (1901–1978) | Member of theLegislative Council | 24 August 1936[§] | 1 April 1937 | 220 days | Rao III | Victor Hope | |||
| 7 |  | Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu (1875–1942) | Member of theLegislative Council | 1 April 1937 | 14 July 1937[RES] | 104 days | 1st (1937) | Naidu | Independent | ||
| 8 |  | C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972) | Member of theLegislative Council | 14 July 1937 | 29 October 1939[RES] | 2 years, 107 days | Rajagopalachari I | Indian National Congress | |||
| – |  | Vacant (Governor-General's rule) | N/A | 29 October 1939 | 29 April 1946 | 6 years, 182 days | Dissolved | N/A | – | N/A | |
| 9 |  | T. Prakasam (1872–1957) | Member of theLegislative Council | 30 April 1946 | 23 March 1947[RES] | 327 days | 2nd (1946) | Prakasam | Archibald Wavell | Indian National Congress | |
| 10 |  | Omanthur P. Ramaswamy Reddiar (1895–1970) | Member of theLegislative Council | 23 March 1947 | 6 April 1949[RES] | 2 years, 14 days | Reddiar | Archibald Nye | |||
| 11 |  | P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja (1898–1957) | Member of theLegislative Council | 6 April 1949 | 25 January 1950 | 294 days | Raja | Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji | |||
Madras State, the precursor to the present-day state of Tamil Nadu, was created afterIndia became a republic on 26 January 1950.[14] It comprised present-day Tamil Nadu and parts of present-dayAndhra Pradesh,Karnataka, andKerala. The first legislature of the Madras State to be elected on the basis ofuniversal suffrage was constituted on 1 March 1952, after thegeneral elections held in January 1952.
The state was split up along linguistic lines in 1953, carving outAndhra State. Under theStates Reorganisation Act, 1956, the states ofKerala andMysore State were carved out ofMadras State.[15] Under theAndhra Pradesh and Madras Alteration of Boundaries Act, 1959, with effect from 1 April 1960,Tiruttani taluk andPallipattu sub-taluk ofChittoor district of Andhra Pradesh were transferred to Madras in exchange for territories from theChingelput andSalem districts.[16]
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| Chief Ministers of Madras State | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Elected constituency | Term of office[13] | Assembly (Election) | Ministry | Appointed by | Political party[a] | |||
| Assumed office | Left office | Time in office | |||||||||
| 1 | | P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja (1898–1957) | Member of theLegislative Council | 26 January 1950 | 9 April 1952 | 2 years, 74 days | 2nd (1946) | Raja | Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji | Indian National Congress | |
| 2 | | C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972) | Member of theLegislative Council | 10 April 1952 | 13 April 1954[RES] | 2 years, 3 days | 1st (1952) | Rajagopalachari II | Sri Prakasa | ||
| 3 |  | K. Kamaraj (1903–1975) | Gudiyatham | 13 April 1954 | 12 April 1957 | 9 years, 172 days | Kamaraj I | ||||
| Sattur | 13 April 1957 | 14 March 1962 | 2nd (1957) | Kamaraj II | A. J. John | ||||||
| 15 March 1962 | 2 October 1963[RES] | 3rd (1962) | Kamaraj III | Bishnu Ram Medhi | |||||||
| 4 |  | M. Bhakthavatsalam (1897–1987) | Sriperumbudur | 2 October 1963 | 5 March 1967 | 3 years, 154 days | Bhakthavatsalam | ||||
| 5 |  | C. N. Annadurai (1909–1969) | Member of theLegislative Council | 6 March 1967 | 13 January 1969 | 1 year, 313 days | 4th (1967) | Annadurai | Ujjal Singh | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |
During the term of thefourth assembly on 18 July 1967, the house unanimously adopted and recommended that steps be taken by the state government to secure the necessary amendment to theConstitution of India to change the name of Madras State toTamil Nadu. Accordingly, the Madras State (Alteration of Name) Act, 1968 (Central Act 53 of 1968) was passed by theParliament of India and came into force on 14 January 1969.[17][18] Consequently, the nomenclature "Madras Legislative Assembly" was changed to "Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly". From 1967 onwards, the strength of the assembly continued to remain at 234 plus a nominated member.
From 1952 to 1986, the state had a parliamentary system of government with two democratically elected houses, theLegislative Assembly and theLegislative Council. On 14 May 1986, thestate government passed a resolution to abolish the legislative council in the state, which was then moved and adopted by the house. On 1 November 1986,Tamil Nadu became a state with a unicameral legislature, and since then, several times, the state government has taken steps to reconstitute the legislative council, but they have failed for so long. The Tamil Nadu Legislative Council has not been constituted in the state to date.
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| No. | Name | Party | Length of term | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longest continuous duration | Total duration of chief ministership | ||||
| 1 | M. Karunanidhi | DMK | 6 years, 355 days | 18 years, 360 days | |
| 2 | J. Jayalalithaa | AIADMK | 4 years, 323 days | 14 years, 124 days | |
| 3 | M. G. Ramachandran | AIADMK | 7 years, 198 days | 10 years, 65 days | |
| 4 | K. Kamaraj | INC | 9 years, 172 days | 9 years, 172 days | |
| 5 | M. K. Stalin | DMK | 4 years, 201 days | 4 years, 201 days | |
| 6 | Edappadi K. Palaniswami | AIADMK | 4 years, 79 days | 4 years, 79 days | |
| 7 | M. Bhakthavatsalam | INC | 3 years, 154 days | 3 years, 154 days | |
| 8 | P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja | INC | 2 years, 74 days | 2 years, 74 days | |
| 9 | C. Rajagopalachari | INC | 2 years, 3 days | 2 years, 3 days | |
| 10 | C. N. Annadurai | DMK | 1 year, 334 days | 1 year, 334 days | |
| 11 | O. Panneerselvam | AIADMK | 237 days | 1 year, 106 days | |
| 12 | V. N. Janaki Ramachandran | AIADMK | 23 days | 23 days | |
| Acting | V. R. Nedunchezhiyan | AIADMK/DMK | 14 days | 21 days | |
| No. | Political party | Number of chief ministers | Total days of holding CMO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | 5 (+1 acting) | 11004 days |
| 2 | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | 3 (+1 acting) | 9302 days |
| 3 | Indian National Congress | 4 | 6247 days |
| Chief ministers | | |
|---|---|---|
| Acting | ||
