The twelfth legislative assembly election was held on 10 May 2001 in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)-led front won the elections and its general secretary, J. Jayalalithaa was sworn in as Chief Minister, even though she could not legally run as MLA in this election. She was unanimously elected as the leader of the 132-member AIADMK Legislative Party, and was subsequently nominated as Chief Minister by the party, preparing to assume office for her second term. The AIADMK-led front won a decisive victory, securing 196 constituencies. The AIADMK alone achieved a simple majority with 132 seats, enabling it to form the government without coalition support. The DMK won 31 seats and Its NDA allies won 6 seats. Political analysts attributed the results primarily to alliance arithmetic, with the broad coalition led by the AIADMK playing a decisive role in securing victory over the Incumbent DMK. 15 ministers from the outgoing Karunanidhi cabinet were defeated in their respective constituencies.
Due to criminal and corruption charges from Jayalalithaa's first term, on 21 September 2001, a five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court of India ruled in a unanimous verdict that "a person who is convicted for a criminal offense and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years cannot be appointed the Chief Minister of a State under Article 164 (1) read with (4) and cannot continue to function as such". Thereby, the bench decided that "in the appointment of Dr. J. Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister there has been a clear infringement of a Constitutional provision and that a writ of quo warranto must issue". In effect, her appointment as Chief Minister was declared null and invalid with retrospective effect. Therefore, technically, she was not the Chief Minister in the period between 14 May 2001 and 21 September 2001. After her resignation on 21 September 2001, she put in O. Panneerselvam, as the official 13th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, until she could clear up the charges from her first term, so she can take up the mantle of Chief Minister officially, on 2 March 2002.
The incumbent party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, finished its full 5 terms, for the first time since winning the 1971 state assembly election. According to various sources and exit polls, the incumbent party was expexted to retain power, due to the popularity of its leader M. Karunanidhi. Due to the anti-incumbency factor, problems of development cited by the people in many rural areas of Tamil Nadu, and a broad coalition formed by AIADMK, including Tamil Maanila Congress, who left the alliance of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), because they joined BJP and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Indian National Congress and the left parties, the AIADMK-led front, with its general secretary J. Jayalalithaa, won by a landslide, sweeping across the state. In this election, J. Jayalalithaa described the contest as a âÂÂlife-and-death battleâ for her political future.
On 24 April 2001, the nomination papers of ADMK General Secretary Jayalalithaa for Bargur and Andipatti, filed on 18 April, along with nominations filed on her behalf in Pudukkottai and Bhuvanagiri minutes before the April 23 deadline, were rejected during scrutiny due to her conviction in the TANSI land deal case.Under Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, her sentence disqualified J. Jayalalithaa from contesting. Some critics, however, argued that filing multiple nominations was aimed at projecting their rejection as part of a conspiracy involving Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. In response, Chief Minister Karunanidhi, who had earlier indicated that her nominations might be rejected, remarked: âÂÂThere is nothing for me to rejoice about. The law has taken its course. Senior advocate Siddhartha Shankar Ray and M. Thambidurai represented her before the Returning Officer at Krishnagiri, and her dummy candidates became the official AIADMK nominees of those seats. Following the rejection, Jayalalithaa campaigned from an open vehicle in Pudukkottai, accusing Karunanidhi of conspiracy, stating: âÂÂconspiring Karunanidhiâ and alleging he pressured officials to block her candidature to promote his son M. K. Stalin. She declared: âÂÂItâÂÂs time we put an end to his efforts to establish a dynasty.â Despite her disqualification, she told voters: âÂÂI have faith in you and only you can give the final verdict. you should consider that I am contesting in all the 141 constituencies where the AIADMK has put up candidates.â She also invoked lines from a Tamil film song from the 1971 film Rickshawkaran starring her mentor MGR: âÂÂAngey sirippavargal sirikkattum. adhu aanava sirippu. nalla theerppai ulagam sollum naal varumpothu, angey sirippavar yaar azhubavar yaar theriyum appothuâ (âÂÂLet those who laugh there, laugh. it is the laughter of arrogance; when the world delivers the true verdict, it will be known who laughs and who weepsâÂÂ). The episode significantly shaped the political narrative of the election, with Jayalalithaa portraying herself as a victim of a political conspiracy, a stance that drew continued support and sympathy from her alliance partners and sections of the electorate.
Source: Various Sources
Source: Oneindia News
A post poll survey conducted by the CSDS in collaboration with NDTV and Frontline found that, at the end of its five-year (1996-2001) term, the DMK government did not face major public disapproval and its performance ratings compared favourably with Left front governments in West Bengal and Kerala. About 42% of respondents preferred the government led by Karunanidhi over the previous AIADMK regime, while Jayalalithaa trailed slightly behind Karunanidhi in chief ministerial preference. Although both leaders were widely perceived as corrupt, with 61% describing Jayalalithaa and 51% Karunanidhi as such, corruption did not become a decisive election issue due to the lack of a clear alternative. The survey also indicated that JayalalithaaâÂÂs disqualification had limited electoral impact, with only 7% saying it influenced their vote, resulting in a net gain of about 1% for the AIADMK-led Alliance.
|- !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:#009900; color:white"| ! style="background-color: " | | 196 | +138 | 14,043,980 |style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" colspan=2 | 50.1% |- |AIADMK ! style="background-color: #008000" | | 132 | +127 | 8,815,387 | 31.4% | 52.1% |- |TMC(M) ! style="background-color: #008080" | | 23 | -15 | 1,885,726 | 6.7% | 47.5% |- |PMK ! style="background-color: #800080" | | 20 | +16 | 1,557,500 | 5.6% | 46.8% |- |INC ! style="background-color: #00FFFF" | | 7 | +7 | 696,205 | 2.5% | 45.4% |- |CPI(M) ! style="background-color: #000080" | | 6 | +4 | 470,736 | 1.7% | 48.2% |- |CPI ! style="background-color: #0000FF" | | 5 | -3 | 444,710 | 1.6% | 48.5% |- |IND ! style="background-color: Black" | | 2 | +2 | 103,971 | 0.4% | 46.6% |- |AIFB ! style="background-color: #800000" | | 1 | +1 | 39,248 | 0.1% | 43.3% |- |MUL ! style="background-color: " | | 0 | -1 | 30,497 | 0.1% | 41.7% |- ! style="background-color:#FF0000; color:white"|DMK+ alliance ! style="background-color: Red" | | 37 | -138 | 10,841,157 |style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" colspan=2 | 38.7% |- |DMK ! style="background-color: Red" | | 31 | -142 | 8,669,864 | 30.9% | 39.0% |- |BJP ! style="background-color: " | | 4 | +3 | 895,352 | 3.2% | 38.7% |- |MADMK ! style="background-color: " | | 2 | +1 | 129,474 | 0.5% | 37.1% |- |PT ! style="background-color: " | | 0 | â | 355,171 | 1.3% | 33.8% |- |MTD ! style="background-color: " | | 0 | â | 257,126 | 0.9% | 40.9% |- |PNK ! style="background-color: " | | 0 | â | 196,740 | 0.7% | 33.6% |- |MGRK ! style="background-color: " | | 0 | â | 136,916 | 0.5% | 40.8% |- |TB ! style="background-color: " | | 0 | â | 45,002 | 0.2% | 40.0% |- |CNMK ! style="background-color: " | | 0 | â | 40,421 | 0.1% | 32.4% |- |IND ! style="background-color: " | | 0 | â | 115,091 | 0.4% | 36.7% |- ! style="background-color:Black; color:white"|Others ! style="background-color: Black" | | 1 | â | 3,192,598 |style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" colspan=2 |11.4% |- |MDMK ! style="background-color: " | | 0 | â | 1,304,469 | 4.7% | 5.1% |- |IND ! style="background-color: #4d4d4d" | | 1 | â | 1,509,378 | 6.2% | 6.3% |- | style="text-align:center;" |Total ! style="background-color: " | | 234 | â | 28,037,314 | 100% | â |-
Note: Parties that contested under "rising-sun" or "two-leaves" symbol are listed as DMK or AIADMK respectively. Parties that ran their candidates as independents, (e.g. Indian Uzhavar Uzhaippalar Katchi and Thondar Congress in DMK alliance) are listed as IND for their respective alliance. <br />â¡: Vote % reflects the percentage of votes the party received compared to the entire electorate that voted in this election. Adjusted (Adj.) Vote %, reflects the average % of votes the party received per constituency that they contested. <br /> Sources: Election Commission of India and Rediff Newspaper
Following the previous 1999 Lok Sabha elections, the DMK-led NDA alliance under M. Karunanidhi, which had secured 47% vote share and leads in 147 Assembly segments, weakened due to defections. The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) shifted to the AIADMK alliance, while the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) led by Vaiko and the Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress (TRC) led by Vazhapadi K. Ramamurthy were excluded, resulting in an estimated 15% loss. Despite inducting Puthiya Tamilagam and the Dalit Panthers of India (DPI), the alliance still faced a net decline of about 11% points. In contrast, the AIADMK-led Secular Democratic Progressive Alliance under J. Jayalalithaa gained strength by inducting PMK and aligning with the Tamil Maanila Congress led by G. K. Moopanar, resulting in an estimated 15% gain and significantly improving its electoral position.
The coalition at the AIADMK led-center would prove to be short-lived, since in less than a year, Pattali Makkal Katchi, and its leader Dr. Ramdoss, left the coalition, citing authoritarian type rule by J. Jayalalithaa (It is noteworthy that this is the first time in Indian history that a person has taken oath as the Chief Minister of a state the day after the counting of votes has been completed.) (Former election commissioner T. N. Seshan & Vazhappady K. Ramamurthy recommended governor to make Jayalalithaa as CM). Also the Tamil Maanila Congress, who proved to be an important ally for the victory of AIADMK, would later merge with Indian National Congress, who would later support DMK led front in future elections. The left parties would also end up joining the DMK led front, leaving the AIADMK coalition after this election.