The eleventh legislative assembly election of Tamil Nadu was held on 2 May 1996 to elect members from 234 constituencies for the state legislature. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led front won the election securing 221 seats in the 234 seat Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, and its leader M. Karunanidhi, became the chief minister.
In the tenth Tamil Nadu assembly, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) held the majority with its leader J. Jayalalithaa as the chief minister. The elections resulted in a landslide defeat for the incumbent government, with the AIADMK winning only four seats. Outgoing chief minister Jayalalithaa lost the election from the Bargur, and became the first incumbent chief minister since M. Bakthavatsalam in 1967 to lose the elections.
The J. Jayalalithaa led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government, which had been in power since 1991 was beset with corruption scandals and public discontent. A series of corruption scandals, a growing reputation for high handedness and an extravagant public wedding for Jayalalithaa's foster son Sudhakaran all combined to erode the AIADMK support base and the goodwill she had enjoyed with the electorate in the 1991 elections.
During the election campaign, Jayalalithaa and the ruling AIADMK candidates faced hostile reactions in several constituencies. On 11 April 1996, at Usilampatti, a slipper was reportedly thrown at Jayalalithaa and her vehicle was stoned. In Theni, Finance Minister V. R. Nedunchezhiyan was prevented from entering parts of his constituency, with similar incidents reported elsewhere. In response, Jayalalithaa intensified attacks on Karunanidhi, accusing him of being anti-woman, anti-national, and politically destabilising.
The AIADMK's alliance with Indian National Congress (INC), which had helped it to win the 1991 elections ran into trouble midway through the AIADMK's term. J. Jayalalithaa terminated the alliance and Congress served as the principal opposition party in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. When the 1996 elections drew closer, it was expected that the Congress would contest the elections in alliance with the DMK. However against the wishes of the Tamil Nadu state unit of the Congress, the national congress leader (and then Indian prime minister) P. V. Narasimha Rao announced that the Congress would ally with the AIADMK. This led to a split in the Tamil Nadu Congress with a majority of the party workers and cadre forming the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) led by G. K. Moopanar. The TMC contested the elections in alliance with the DMK.
In 1993, the DMK suffered a split when one of its more prominent second rung leaders, Vaiko was expelled from the party membership. The next year Vaiko floated a new party â the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK).
There were four main coalitions in the 1996 elections. The DMK-TMC front which also included the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the AIADMK-Congress front were the main political groupings in the state. Both fronts had a number of smaller parties as constituents. The Indian National League and the All India Forward Bloc were part of the DMK front, while the AIADMK front also had Muslim Leagues, Forward Block, All India Republic Party, Uzhavar Uzhaippalar Katchi and United Communist Party. Apart from these two fronts, there was a MDMK led coalition which included the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), the Janata Dal (JD) and the Samajwadi Janata Party (SJP). The alliance between Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and All India Indira Congress (Tiwari) (Tiwari Congress) led by Vazhappady Ramamurthy was the fourth coalition that contested the elections. Initially, before the TMC was formed, the DMK put together a seven party alliance comprising itself, PMK, CPI, Tiwari Congress and a few other parties. However, this alliance fell through when the Tiwari Congress and PMK left the front after differences between Karunanidhi and Ramamurthy. After this, Cho Ramaswamy (editor of Thuglak) played a vital role in bringing together the DMK-TMC coalition and obtaining actor Rajinikanth's support for it. There were a few other smaller political formations and parties contesting the election â the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) contested the elections alone; Subramanian Swamy's Janata Party contested in alliance with the caste organisation Devendra Kula Velalar Sangam led by Dr. K. Krishnasamy.
The DMK-TMC alliance enlisted the popular Tamil film actor Rajinikanth to campaign against the AIADMK in the elections. Rajinikanth declared his support for the DMK-TMC combine and members of his numerous fan clubs campaigned for the DMK front across Tamil Nadu. In a widely watched campaign appearance broadcast in Sun TV, he declared "even God cannot save Tamil Nadu if AIADMK returns to power".Rajinikanth's support gave enormous victory to DMK
In the 1996 election, strong anti-incumbency against Jayalalithaa and the strength of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam â Tamil Maanila Congress alliance made their victory predictable. A poll by India Today with Prannoy Roy and Dorab R. Sopariwala projected 11âÂÂ37 seats for the AIADMK, but it won only four.
A survey conducted by the CSDS in collaboration with NDTV and Frontline found that 60% of the electorate was âÂÂnot satisfied at allâ with then incumbent Jayalalithaa regime, while only 13% reported being âÂÂvery satisfied.âÂÂ
Polling took place on 2 May 1996 and results were announced on 12 May. The turnout among registered voters was 66.95%. The assembly elections were held simultaneously along with the 1996 Indian general election.
!colspan=10| |- ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" |Alliance/Party !style="width:4px" | ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |Seats won ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |Change ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |Popular Vote ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |Vote % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |Adj. %<sup>â¡</sup> |- ! style="background-color:#FF0000; color:white"|DMK+ Alliance ! style="background-color: " | |221 |+214 |14,600,748 |style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" colspan=2 |53.77% |- |DMK ! style="background-color: #FF0000" | |173 | +171 |11,423,380 |42.07% |54.04% |- |TMC(M) ! style="background-color: #008080" | |39 | +39 |2,526,474 |9.3% |55.21% |- |CPI ! style="background-color: #0000FF" | |8 | +7 |575,570 |2.12% |42.95% |- |AIFB ! style="background-color: #800000" | |1 | +1 |75,324 |0.28% |76.18% |- ! style="background-color:#009900; color:white"|AIADMK+ alliance ! style="background-color: " | |4 |-221 |7,354,723 |style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" colspan=2 |27.08% |- |AIADMK ! style="background-color: #008000" | |4 | -160 |5,831,383 |21.47% |29.24% |- |INC ! style="background-color: #00FFFF" | |0 | -60 |1,523,340 |5.61% |21.09% |-
! style="background-color:#ff2a00 ; color:black"|MDMK+ alliance ! style="background-color:#ff2a00 | |2 |0 |2,143,141 |style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" colspan=2 |7.89% |- |MDMK ! style="background-color: #ff2a00" | |0 |0 |1,569,168 |5.78% |7.6% |- |CPI(M) ! style="background-color: #000080" | |1 |0 |456,712 |1.68% |9.57% |- |JD ! style="background-color: " | |1 |0 |117,801 |0.43% |7.31% |- ! style="background-color:yellow; color:black"|PMK+ Alliance ! style="background-color:yellow" | |4 |+3 |1,252,275 |style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" colspan=2 |4.61% |- |PMK ! style="background-color: #800080" | |4 | +3 |1,042,333 |3.84% |7.61% |- |AIIC(T) ! style="background-color: " | |0 |0 |209,942 |0.77% |4.23% |- ! style="background-color:gray; color:white"|Others ! style="background-color:gray" | |3 |+1 |1,662,926 |style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" colspan=2 | 6.12% |- |BJP ! style="background-color: " | |1 | +1 |490,453 |1.81% |2.93% |- |JP ! style="background-color: " | |1 | +1 |150,134 |0.55% |2.51% |- |IND ! style="background-color: " | |1 |0 |1,022,339 |3.76% |3.8% |- | style="text-align:center;" |Total ! style="background-color: " | | 234 | â |27,154,721 |style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" colspan=2 | 100% |-
AIADMK suffered a rout in the elections. Most of sitting ministers of the AIADMK government, including the chief minister Jayalalithaa lost their seats. Jayalalithaa lost to DMK's E. G. Sugavanam by a margin of 8,366 votes in the Bargur constituency. A year after the election, the AIADMK split, when a faction led by the Arantangi MLA Su. Thirunavukkarasar broke away from the party. The MDMK which was contesting its first statewide elections since its formation in 1994 drew a blank. MDMK leader Vaiko was defeated in both the Vilathikulam Assembly constituency and the Sivakasi parliamentary constituency. This election also saw the PMK electing four members to the assembly. The massive victory of the DMK-TMC-CPI combine in the assembly elections spilled over to the parliamentary elections. The coalition was able to win all 39 parliamentary seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone parliamentary seat in the nearby Pondicherry. This tally of 40 seats enabled the DMK-TMC combine to be part of the United Front government during 1996âÂÂ98.
In June 1996, AIADMK General Secretary J. Jayalalithaa stated that her close aide V. K. Sasikala was not responsible for the partyâÂÂs electoral defeat, alleging that some party members were attempting to use her as a scapegoat to conceal their own failures. She maintained that Sasikala and her family had no role in party affairs or elections. Jayalalithaa further claimed that internal sabotage by party members denied tickets to contest, along with dissatisfaction among others, contributed to the defeat. Referring to her loss in Bargur, she attributed it to false propaganda and electoral malpractices. She denied corruption allegations against her, asserting her innocence and stating that she was prepared to face legal proceedings and prove the charges to be fabricated.
| After the death of the minister Thiru V.Thangapandian there is a Inclusion of Thiru Pasumpon Tha Kirittinan as Minister for Highways and seniority changes done he is placed in No 9 in ministers list and the cabinet re-designated several changes shuffling done.