The 2009 Indian general election polls in Tamil Nadu was held for 39 seats in the state. There was a radical change in the alliances in this election compared to the last election, reminiscent of the 1999 election in Tamil Nadu. In this election the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) decided to stay with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), but the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK (breakaway)), and the left parties decided to ally itself with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the newly formed Third Front named United National Progressive Alliance.

After counting on 16 May 2009, the results to everyone surprise, showed the DMK and its allies, Indian National Congress and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, winning in a landslide victory, securing 27 out of 39 seats. DMK and its allies were also able to hold on to Pondicherry, which has one seat. Many expected, before the election, through opinion polling and voters on the ground, that AIADMK, and its allies, who were formerly with the UPA (PMK, MDMK, Left Front) in 2004, would win in a landslide, but due to the late surge of support for the DMK, and the nationwide support of the UPA government, the DMK and its allies, ended up winning the most seats, and this victory, proved crucial, for Congress to form the government on its own, without the Left Front.

M.K. Azhagiri, son of DMK leader Karunanidhi, ran in the Madurai, and won his debut run in national politics. Out of the 24 incumbents from the 2004 Election, who ran again in this election, only 10 incumbents won, with 7 of the members from the DMK and 3 of the members from the Indian National Congress (INC).

Even though it was a big victory for DMK and allies, Congress fared poorly in the state compared to DMK, where cabinet minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, who has been in power in Mayiladuthurai constituency for 10 years, was defeated and P. Chidambaram, who has been in power in Sivaganga constituency, for past 25 years, lost according to the first counting, and won during the recount, barely winning his constituency.

Even though the opposition party failed to get more seats than the DMK and its allies, AIADMK, improved its tally to 9 seats, from winning no seats in 2004. But the opposition allies (PMK, MDMK and Left Parties), significantly lost seats compared to the 2004 election, when they allied with DMK. PMK especially lost all 6 of its seats that it got in the last Lok Sabha, coming out as the biggest loser of this election in Tamil Nadu.

Schedule

EventDate Date for Nominations 17 April 2009 Last Date for filing Nominations 24 April 2009 Date for scrutiny of nominations 25 April 2009 Last date for withdrawal of candidatures 27 April 2009 Date of poll 13 May 2009 Date of counting 16 May 2009

Seat allotments

United Progressive Alliance

colspan="7" United Progressive Alliance Party Flag Symbol LeaderSeats Contested M. Karunanidhi 2122 K. M. Kader Mohideen 1 K. V. Thangabalu15 Thol. Thirumavalavan2 Total39

Third Front

colspan="6" Third Front Party Flag Symbol Leader Seats Contested J. Jayalalithaa 23 Dr. Ramdoss 6 Vaiko 4 N. Varadarajan 3 Tha. Pandian 3 Total39

National Democratic Alliance colspan="8" National Democratic Alliance Party Flag Symbol Leader Seats Pon. Radhakrishnan 1219 R. Sarathkumar 5 Karthik 2Nitish Kumar2 Total 21

Candidate List List of Candidates from Prominent Alliances *Incumbent MPs ConstituencyUPAThird Front # Name Party Candidate Party Candidate 1 Thiruvallur (SC) S. Gayathri P. Venugopal 2 Chennai North T.K.S. Elangovan D. Pandian 3 Chennai South R. S. Bharathi C. Rajendran 4 Chennai Central Dayanidhi Maran* S. M. K. Mogamed Ali Jinnah 5 Sriperumbudur T.R. Baalu* A. K. Moorthy* 6 Kancheepuram (SC) P. Viswanathan E. Ramakrishnan 7 Arakkonam Jagathrakshakan R. Velu* 8 Vellore Abdul Rahman L. K. M. B. Vasu 9 Krishnagiri E.G. Sugavanam* K. Nanjegowdu 10 Dharmapuri R. Thamaraiselvan R. Senthil* 11 Tiruvannamalai D. Venugopal* J. Gurunathan 12 Arani M. Krishnasamy N. Subramaniyan 13 Viluppuram (SC) K. Swamidurai K. Murugesan Anandan 14 Kallakurichi Adhi Sankar K. Dhanaraju* 15 Salem K. V. Thangkabalu* S. Semmalai 16 Namakkal S. Gandhiselvan V. Vairam Tamilarasi 17 Erode E. V. K. S. Elangovan* A. Ganeshamurthi 18 Tiruppur S. K. Kharventhan* C. Sivasamy 19 Nilgiris (SC) A. Raja* Dr. C. Krishnan* 20 Coimbatore R. Prabhu* P. R. Natarajan 21 Pollachi K. Shamugasundaram K. Sugumar 22 Dindigul N. S. V. Chitthan* P. Balasubramani 23 Karur K. C. Palanisamy M. Thambidurai 24 Tiruchirappalli Sarubala R. Thondaiman P. Kumar 25 Perambalur D. Napoleon K. K. Balasubramanian 26 Cuddalore K. S. Alagiri M. C. Sampath 27 Chidambaram (SC) Thol. Thirumavalavan E. Ponnuswamy* 28 Mayiladuthurai Mani Shankar Aiyar* O. S. Manian 29 Nagapattinam (SC) A.K.S. Vijayan* M. Selvarasu 30 Thanjavur S.S. Palanimanickam* Durai Balakrishnan 31 Sivaganga P. Chidambaram* R. S. Raja Kannappan 32 Madurai M.K. Azhagiri P. Mohan 33 Theni J. M. Aaroon Rashid Thanga Tamil Selvan 34 Virudhunagar Manickam Tagore Vaiko 35 Ramanathapuram J. K. Rithish V. Sathyamoorthy 36 Thoothukkudi S. R. Jeyadurai Dr. Cynthia Pandian 37 Tenkasi (SC) K. Vellaipandi P. Lingam 38 Tirunelveli S. S. Ramasubbu K. Annamalai 39 Kanniyakumari J. Helen Davidson A. V. Bellarmin List of Candidates from Other parties ConstituencyDMDKNDA # Name Party Candidate Party Candidate 1 Thiruvallur (SC) R. Suresh M. S. Sudharsan 2 Chennai North V. Yuvaraj Tamilisai Soundararajan 3 Chennai South V. Gopinath La. Ganesan 4 Chennai Central V. V. Ramakrishnan 5 Sriperumbudur M. Arun Subramanian 6 Kancheepuram (SC) T. Tamilvendan 7 Arakkonam S. Sankar K. Shanmugam 8 Vellore Shoukath Sherif A. K. Rajendiran 9 Krishnagiri D. Anbarasan G. Balakrishnan 10 Dharmapuri V. Elangovan 11 Tiruvannamalai S. Manikandan 12 Arani R. A. Mohanam 13 Viluppuram (SC) P. M. Ganapathi 14 Kallakurichi L. K. Sudhish 15 Salem Alagaapuram R. Mohanraj 16 Namakkal N. Maheswaran K. Suresh Gandhi 17 Erode K. G. Muthuvenkateshwaran N. P. Palanisamy 18 Tiruppur N. Dinesh Kumar M. Sivakumar 19 Nilgiris (SC) S. Selvaraj S. Gurumurthy 20 Coimbatore R. Pandian G. K. S. Selvakumar 21 Pollachi K. P. Thangavel V. S. Baba Ramesh 22 Dindigul P. Muthuvelraj 23 Karur R. Ramanathan 24 Tiruchirappalli A. M. G. Vijaykumar Lalitha Kumaramangalam 25 Perambalur Durai Kamaraj 26 Cuddalore M. C. Dhamotharan 27 Chidambaram (SC) S. Sasikumar 28 Mayiladuthurai K. Pandian S. Karthikeyan 29 Nagapattinam (SC) M. Muthukumar 30 Thanjavur Dr. P. Ramanathan 31 Sivaganga Barwatha Regina Papa 32 Madurai K. Kaviarasu 33 Theni M. G. Santhanam A. Parvathi 34 Virudhunagar K. Pandiarajan M. Karthik 35 Ramanathapuram S. Singai Jinnah Su. Thirunavukkarasar 36 Thoothukkudi M. S. Sunther S. Saravanan 37 Tenkasi K. Inbaraj 38 Tirunelveli S. Michael Rayappan Karu Nagarajan 39 Kanniyakumari S. Austin Pon Radhakrishnan

Voting and results

Results by Pre-Poll Alliance

AlliancePartyPopular VotePercentageSwingSeats wonSeat ChangeUnited Progressive AllianceDravida Munnetra Kazhagam7,264,92323.90%0.70%171Indian National Congress4,567,77915.03%0.63%82Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi732,8332.41%new party1new partyIndian Union Muslim League360,4741.19%1Total12,926,00942.53%3.53%271Third FrontAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam6,953,59122.88%6.89%99Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam1,112,9083.66%2.29%13Communist Party of India865,0292.85%0.12%11Communist Party of India (Marxist)669,0582.20%0.67%11Pattali Makkal Katchi1,736,0005.71%1.00%05Total11,336,58637.30%10.97%121Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam3,126,11710.29%new party0new partyOthers3,002,2489.88%2.85%0Valid Votes30,390,96099.96%Invalid Votes12,7870.04%Total Votes30,403,747100.00%Registered Voters/Turnout41,620,46073.05%12.24%

†: Seat change represents seats won in terms of the current alliances, which is considerably different from the last election.‡: 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. Sources: Election Commission of India

Result Analysis Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) contested independently and secured 10.1% of the vote. Its presence was assessed to have influenced outcomes in several constituencies, favouring the DMK-led UPA alliance in 13 seats and the AIADMK-led Alliance in 11 seats. In all these lok sabha constituencies, the DMDK polled more votes than the respective victory margins.

Strike Rate Strike rate is determined by calculating the number of seats won by a party of the number of seats it contested. Alliance/ PartySeats contestedSeats WonStrike Raterowspan="4" UPADMK221881.81%INC15853.33%VCK2150.00%Total392769.23%rowspan="6" Third FrontAIADMK23939.13%PMK600.00%MDMK4125.00%CPI3133.33%CPI(M)3133.33%Total391230.76%

List of elected MPs Source: Election Commission of India 24 Incumbents (7 (DMK), 8 (INC), 5 (PMK), 1 (MDMK), 1 (CPM) from the 2004 Lok Sabha election ran in this election, either for the same constituency, or a different constituency. Since the UPA and the Left Front swept the last election, all of the incumbents were either from UPA or Left Front. 15 of them are now currently running for the UPA, while the other 7 candidates, from PMK, MDMK and CPM, are running for the Third Front.