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.

Background

Anti-Incumbency 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.

Formation of TMC 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.

Formation of MDMK 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 – the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK).

Coalitions 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 – 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.

Rajinikanth's support 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

Highlights

In the Modakurichi Assembly constituency of Erode district, a record 1,033 candidates, comprising 1,005 men and 28 women, contested the election, leading the ECI to postpone polling by a month. The delay was necessitated by the allocation of election symbols, the resolution of related disputes, and the printing of an extensive ballot booklet. While polling across the rest of Tamil Nadu was held on 2 May, voting in Modakurichi took place on 1 June 1996, where voters faced difficulty in locating their preferred symbols.

Seat allotments

United Front colspan="8" DMK-led Alliance Party Flag Symbol LeaderSeats M. Karunanidhi 176182 M. Abdul Latheif 5 L. Santhanam 1 G. K. Moopanar40 R. Nallakannu11 P. N. Vallarasu1 Total234

Congress Front colspan="8" AIADMK-led Alliance Party Flag Symbol LeaderSeats J. Jayalalithaa 163168 K. M. Kader Mohideen 2 1 C. K. Thamizharasan 1 S. Andi Thevar 1 Kumari Anandan64 R. Thirunavukkarasar 1 Total233

People's Democratic Front colspan="8" People's Democratic Front Party Flag Symbol Leader Seats Vaiko 175177 Mulayam Singh Yadav 2 Ram Vilas Paswan 39 + 1 N. Sankaraiah15 + 1 Total232

PMK-Tiwari Congress Front colspan="6" PMK-led Alliance Party Flag Symbol Leader Seats Dr. Ramdoss 116 Vazhappady Ramamurthy 46 L. Elayaperumal 2 Total164

List of Candidates