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2006 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election

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All 234 seats in the Legislature of Tamil Nadu 118 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	70.56%(11.49%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader M. Karunanidhi J. Jayalalithaa Vijayakanth Party DMK AIADMK DMDK Alliance DPA+UPA+LF AIADMK+ None Leader's seat Chepauk Andipatti Virudhachalam Seats won 163 69 1 Seat change 71 64 New Popular vote 14,762,647 13,166,445 2,764,223 Percentage 44.75% 39.91% 8.38% Swing 6.08% 10.18% New
2006 election map (by constituencies)
Chief Minister before election J. Jayalalithaa AIADMK Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi DMK

The thirteenth legislative assembly election, of Tamil Nadu was held on 8 May 2006. It was held for all 234 constituencies to elect the government in the state for the following five years. The votes were counted three days later on 11 May 2006 and all the results were out by the end of the day. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led (DMK) front won the elections, with the DMK emerging as the single-largest party with 96 seats, and its leader, M Karunanidhi was sworn in as Chief Minister for a fifth and final term. This election marked the first time the state saw a hung assembly with no party gaining a majority of its own. As a result, DMK formed a minority government with its allies, which is the first in the state since the 1952 election. 13th Assembly was instituted due to this election.

The election marked the electoral debut of the actor Vijayakanth and his political outfit, the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK). Though the party could only gain a single seat, it cut into the vote share of both DMK and AIADMK and emerged as a third alternative to the existing two Dravidian parties.

Polling

48848 polling stations were set up for electorate, that sized up to 46,607 eligible voters.

Political parties and the alliances

Tamil Nadu has a remarkable history of being dominated by the local parties, DMK or AIADMK, while the national parties have a strong presence in other states. The parties have resorted to forming alliances in the last few elections to take on each sides for power.

Striking changes in the alliances included the swap of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) from DMK led Democratic Progressive Alliance to All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) led Democratic People Alliance. While Dalit Panthers of India joined the AIADMK alliance, all other major parties in the fray such as Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Indian National Congress, CPM and Communist Party of India (CPI), aligned themselves with the DMK party.

There were two notable new parties — Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) formed in September 2005 by actor-turned-politician Vijaykanth, and Lok Paritran formed by Indian Institutes of Technology graduates in February 2006. Both contested alone in this elections.

The contest was between two major alliances in a seat-sharing agreement, the AIADMK alliance and the DMK alliance. These archrivals had a face-off in 106 seats.

Exit Polls predicted a 157-167 seats in favour of the DMK alliance, while the AIADMK alliance was expected to get 64-74 seats in the assembly.

Before the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections, the Pattali Makkal Katchi left the DMK, citing differences with its leader M. Karunanidhi, and joined the AIADMK, and the Third Front.

Seat allotments

DMK Front

Source: Junior Vikatan

	Party	Election Symbol	Leader	Seats Contested
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		M. Karunanidhi	128
	Indian National Congress		M. Krishnasamy	48
	Pattali Makkal Katchi		S. Ramadoss	31
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)		N. Varadarajan	13
	Communist Party of India		Tha. Pandian	10
Unregistered (or) Unrecognized party, whose candidates ran under the DMK ticket
	Indian Union Muslim League		K. M. Kader Mohideen	2
	Puratchi Bharatham Katchi		M. Jaganmoorthy	1
	Forward Bloc (Vallarasu)		P. V. Kathiravan	1

AIADMK Front

Source: Junior Vikatan

	Party	Election Symbol	Leader	Seats Contested
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		J. Jayalalithaa	182
	Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		Vaiko	35
	Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi		Thol. Thirumavalavan	9
	Janata Dal (Secular)		H. D. Deve Gowda	1
	Tamil Maanila Muslim League		Dawood Miakhan	1
Unregistered (or) Unrecognized party, whose candidates ran under the AIADMK ticket
	Indian National league		Janab	2
	Indian National Trade Union Congress		P. L. Subbaih	2
	Moovendar Munnetra Kazhagam		G. M. Sreedhar Vandaiyar	1
	Forward Bloc (Santhanam)		L. Santhanam	1

Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam

Source: Junior Vikatan

	Party	Election Symbol	Leader	Seats Contested
	Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam		Vijayakant	232
				2

The two seats that DMDK contested in Ring symbol instead of nagara .

Bharatiya Janata Party

Source: Junior Vikatan

	Party	Election Symbol	Leader	Seats Contested
	Bharatiya Janata Party		Pon. Radhakrishnan	225

Opinion polling

Pre-poll surveys

Exit polls

Voting and results

The 2006 Tamil Nadu State Elections saw a record voter turnout of 70.70% an 11% increase compared to the last 2001 elections and the highest since the 1991 elections which saw an 85% voter turnout. The ruling party AIADMK was voted out of power with the DMK alliance regaining power after losing out in the previous elections with a paltry 37 seats. This time however, no party reached the simple majority of 117 of the 234 seats. DMK grabbed the highest number of seats (96) for any contesting party, while AIADMK followed with 61 seats. The Congress won 34 seats while the other national party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), drew blank after contesting alone in this elections. PMK managed to win 18 seats followed by the Communists (15 seats). MDMK, the party that jumped alliance won 6 seats and the DPI won 2 seats. DMDK, even while contesting in 232 seats managed to score just one seat, with the party leader actor vijayakant winning the seat he contested in Vridhachalam Constituency. There was 1 independent winner.

The split results paved way for the formation of the new coalition government led by DMK chief, the 82-year-old veteran politician Dr.M Karunanidhi, becoming the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the fifth time, with the Congress unconditionally supporting his claim for Chief Ministership and government formation.

Due to the loss of key allies after the previous election, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), ended up losing both the 2004 Lok Sabha Election and the 2006 State Assembly Elections, to DMK led coalition that consisted of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and former allies of AIADMK, Indian National Congress, left parties (Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist)) and Pattali Makkal Katchi.

Results by pre-poll alliance

Sources: Election Commission of India

†: Seat changes reflect the following mergers in parties from previous election. MADMK merged with Bharatiya Janata Party in 2002. TMC merged with the national party INC in 2002. Usilampatti FBL MLA L. Santhanam, joined AIADMK and contested in Sholavandan, after being expelled from his party by newly elected actor-turned party leader Karthik.
‡: Vote % reflects the percentage of votes the party received compared to the entire electorate that voted in this election. Adjusted (Adj.) Vote %, reflects the % of votes the party received per constituency that they contested.

Constituency wise results

The following table lists the winners and margin of victory in all constituencies.

Aftermath

Pattali Makkal Katchi, and its leader Dr. Ramdoss and left parties would also end up joining the AIADMK led front, leaving the DMK coalition ahead of 2009 Lok Sabha General election.

See also

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

Footnotes

1. CNN-IBN-Hindu Exit Polls Article accessed 13 May 2006.
2. "DMK ahead in pre-poll survey". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 25 April 2006. Archived from the original on 15 May 2006. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
3. "Pre-Poll Survey: Close fight in TN". CNN IBN. 14 April 2006. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
4. "TN exit polls: Exit Jaya, welcome MK". CNN-IBN. 11 May 2006. Archived from the original on 12 April 2009. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
5. "Tamil Nadu's changing political landscape". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 10 May 2006. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006.
6. Newindpress.com Article Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine dated 12 May 2006, accessed 12 May 2006.
7. Nambath, Suresh (12 May 2006). "Karunanidhi to be Chief Minister for fifth time". The Hindu. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
8. ^ Election Commission of India. "2006 Election Statistical Report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2006.
9. "Biographical Sketch of Member of 13th Lok Sabha". Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
10. "TMC to merge with Congress on Aug 1". www.indianexpress.com. 18 June 2002. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
11. "Santhanam to contest one seat as AIADMK ally". oneindia.in. 14 March 2006. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
12. ^ Election Commission of India - DMK Performance Page Archived 2006-05-23 at the Wayback Machine accessed 11 May 2006.
13. ^ Election Commission of India Official Tamil Nadu Results accessed 12 May 2006.
14. ^ Karunanidhi on comeback trail in Tamil Nadu, IBNLive Article, accessed 11 May 2006.
15. ^ Election Commission of India Newsflash Archived 2008-12-07 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 11 May 2006.

External links

• News coverage of the election on Rediff
• Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
• Indian Elections
• Rediff - Graphic: How the DMK wrested Tamil Nadu

• 2006 State Assembly elections in India
• State Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu
• 2000s in Tamil Nadu
• May 2006 events in India