List of chief ministers of Tamil Nadu

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Tamiḻnāṭu Mutalamaiccar
Emblem of Tamil Nadu
Flag of India
Incumbent M. K. Stalin since 7 May 2021
Chief Minister's Office
Style	The Honourable (Formal) Mr./Mrs. Chief Minister (Informal)
Status	Head of Government
Abbreviation	CM
Member of	Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Council of Ministers
Reports to	Governor of Tamil Nadu Secretariat of Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
Residence	25/9, Chittaranjan Road, Cenotaph Road, Alwarpet, Chennai – 600018, Tamil Nadu, India
Seat	Secretariat of Tamil Nadu, Chennai
Appointer	Governor of Tamil Nadu by convention based on appointees ability to command confidence in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
Term length	At the pleasure of the governor Legislative Assembly term 5 years unless dissolved sooner no term limits specified
Inaugural holder	A. Subbarayalu Reddiar (as the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency) [1] C. N. Annadurai (as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu)
Formation	10 April 1952; 69 years ago (1952-04-10)
Deputy	Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
Website	www.tn.gov.in

The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is the chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, the state's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given that he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.^[2]

Since 1952, Tamil Nadu has had 11 chief ministers, 12 including V. R. Nedunchezhiyan who twice acted in the role. A majority of them belonged to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party. The longest-serving chief minister, M. Karunanidhi from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam held the office for over eighteen years in multiple tenure, while he was the one who had the largest gap between two terms (nearly thirteen years). The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's J. Jayalalithaa has the second-longest tenure and the party's founder M. G. Ramachandran, the first actor to become the chief minister in India has the third-longest tenure, while his wife V. N. Janaki Ramachandran has the shortest tenure (only 23 days). One chief minister, K. Kamaraj, resigned his post and devoted all his energy for the revitalization of the Indian National Congress party, he was responsible for the elevation of Lal Bahadur Shastri to the position of Prime Minister of India after Nehru's death and Indira Gandhi after Shastri's death. while another, C. Rajagopalachari, served as the last Governor-General of India. There have been four instances of president's rule in Tamil Nadu, most recently in 1991.^[3][4]

The current incumbent is M. K. Stalin of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam since 7 May 2021.

List of chief ministers of Madras Presidency[]

The Madras Presidency, headquartered in Fort St. George, India, was a province of British India that comprised present day Tamil Nadu, the Malabar region of North Kerala, the coastal and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh, and the Bellary, Dakshina Kannada, and Udupi districts of Karnataka. It was established in 1653 to be the headquarters of the English settlements on the Coromandel Coast.

The territory under the presidency comprised only Madraspatnam and surrounding regions. But, after the Anglo-French wars and the consequent alliance between the English East India Company and the Nawab of Arcot, it was expanded to comprise the region from Northern Circars to Cape Comorin. The governance structure also evolved from a modest secretariat with a single secretary for the Public Department in 1670 to six departments overseen by a chief secretary by 1920.

The Indian Councils Act 1861 set up the Madras Legislative Council as an advisory body, without powers, through which the colonial administration obtained advice and assistance from able and willing Indian business leaders. But membership was selected (not elected) and not representative of the masses.

With the enactment of Government of India Act 1919, the first legislature was formed in 1920 after general elections.^[5] The term of the legislative council was three years. It had 132 members of whom 34 were nominated by the governor and the rest were elected. Under the Government of India Act 1935, a bicameral legislature was set up with a legislative assembly consisting of 215 members and a legislative council having 56 members. The first legislative assembly under this act was constituted in July 1937. The legislative council was a permanent body with a third of its members retiring every 3 years with power to decide on bills passed by the assembly^[6]

In 1939, the British government declared India's entrance into World War II without consulting provincial governments. The Indian National Congress protested by asking all its elected representatives to resign from the governments.^[7] Congress came back to power in 1946 after new provincial elections.^[8]

The state of Tamil Nadu in India has an electorate of more than 70 million people (7 crores)^[9]

Madras Presidency in 1909 showing in southern portion of India

Since 1920, Fort St. George is the
Chief Secretariat of Tamil Nadu

S.No.[a]	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected Constituency	Political Party[b]	Term of office[10]			Appointed by	Legislative Council Election
					From	To	Days in office
1		A. Subbarayalu Reddiar (1855–1921)	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	South Indian Liberal Federation	17 December 1920	11 July 1921[RES]	1st (206 days)	Frederic Thesiger	1st
2		Panaganti Ramarayaningar (1866–1928)	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	South Indian Liberal Federation	11 July 1921	11 September 1923	1st (2 years, 62 days)	Rufus Isaacs
			Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	South Indian Liberal Federation	19 November 1923	3 December 1926	2nd (3 years, 14 days)		2nd
3		P. Subbarayan (1889–1962)	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	Unaffiliated	4 December 1926	27 October 1930	1st (3 years, 327 days)	Edward Wood	3rd
4		B. Munuswamy Naidu (1885–1935)	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	South Indian Liberal Federation	27 October 1930	4 November 1932[RES]	1st (2 years, 8 days)	Edward Wood	4th
5		Ramakrishna Ranga Rao (1901–1978)	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	South Indian Liberal Federation	5 November 1932	5 November 1934	1st (2 years, 0 days)	Freeman Freeman-Thomas
			Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	South Indian Liberal Federation	5 November 1934	4 April 1936[RES]	2nd (1 year, 151 days)		5th
6		P. T. Rajan (1892–1974)	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	South Indian Liberal Federation	4 April 1936	24 August 1936[RES]	1st (142 days)
(5)		Ramakrishna Ranga Rao (1901–1978)	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	South Indian Liberal Federation	24 August 1936	1 April 1937	3rd (220 days)	Victor Hope
7		Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu (1875–1942)	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	Unaffiliated[11][12][13][14]	1 April 1937	14 July 1937[RES]	1st (104 days)		1st
8		C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972)	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	Indian National Congress	14 July 1937	29 October 1939[RES]	1st (2 years, 107 days)
–		Governor's Rule[15]	N/A		29 October 1939	30 April 1946	(6 years, 183 days)
9		T. Prakasam (1872–1957)	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	Indian National Congress	30 April 1946	23 March 1947[RES]	1st (327 days)	Archibald Wavell	2nd
10		Omanthur P. Ramaswamy Reddiar (1895–1970)	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	Indian National Congress	23 March 1947	6 April 1949[RES]	1st (2 years, 14 days)	Archibald Nye
11		P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja (1898–1957)	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	Indian National Congress	6 April 1949	26 January 1950	1st (295 days)	Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji

Key

• ^† Assassinated or died in office
• ^RES Resigned

Timeline[]

Chief Ministers of Madras State[]

Map of southern India showing the Madras State in yellow before the reorganisation of 1956

Map of India showing the Madras State after the reorganisation of 1956

Madras State precursor to the present day state of Tamil Nadu, was created after India became a republic on 26 January 1950.^[16] It comprised present-day Tamil Nadu and parts of present-day Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. The first legislature of the Madras State to be elected on the basis of universal suffrage was constituted on 1 March 1952, after the general elections held in January 1952.^[17]

The state was split up along linguistic lines in 1953, carving out Andhra State. Under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, the States of Kerala, and Mysore were carved out of Madras state. Under the implementation of the Andhra Pradesh and Madras Alteration of Boundaries Act, 1959, with effect from 1 April 1960, Tirutani taluk and Pallipattu sub-taluk of Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh were transferred to Madras in exchange for territories from the Chingelput and Salem districts.^[5][18]

On 1 October 1953, a separate Andhra State consisting of the Telugu speaking areas, of the composite Madras State was formed and the Kannada speaking area of Ballari district was also merged with the then Mysore State with effect from the above date and as a consequence, the strength of the assembly was reduced to 231. The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 came into effect from 1 November 1956 and consequently the constituencies in the erstwhile Malabar districts were merged with the Kerala State and as a consequence the strength of the Assembly was further reduced to 190. The Tamil speaking area of Kerala (the present Kanniyakumari District) and Sengottai taluk were added to Madras State. Subsequently, according to the new Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 1956, made by the Delimitation Commission of India under the provisions of the State Reorganization Act, 1956, the strength of the Madras Legislative Assembly was raised to 205 distributed in 167 territorial constituencies, 37 two-member constituencies in each of which a seat had been reserved for Scheduled Castes and 1 two-member constituency in which a seat had been reserved for Scheduled Tribes.

On 1 April 1957, after the general elections, held in March 1957 consisted of 205 elected Members besides one nominated member. During the term of the Assembly in 1959, as result of the adjustment of boundaries between Andhra Pradesh and Madras Alteration of Boundaries Act, 1959, one member from the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly was allotted to Madras and consequently the strength of the Madras Assembly was increased to 206. During 1961, by the Two-Member Constituencies (Abolition) Act, 1961, the 38 double-member Constituencies were abolished and an equal number of single-member constituencies were reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. However, there was no change in the strength of territorial constituencies in Madras Assembly which had remained as 206.

On 3 March 1962, after the general elections held in 1962. The strength of the assembly continued to be 206. By the delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 1965, the number of territorial constituencies in Madras was increased to 234, out of which forty-two seats were reserved for Scheduled Castes and two seats for Scheduled Tribes besides one member to be nominated from the Anglo-Indian Community under Article 333 of the Constitution of India.

S.No.[a]	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected Constituency	Political Party[b]	Term of office[10]			Appointed by	Legislative Assembly Election
					From	To	Days in office
1		P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja (1898–1957)	Leader of Madras State Legislative Council	Indian National Congress	27 January 1950	9 April 1952	1st (2 years, 73 days)	Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji	2nd
2		C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972)	Leader of Madras State Legislative Council	Indian National Congress	10 April 1952	13 April 1954[RES]	2nd (2 years, 3 days)	Sri Prakasa	1st
3		K. Kamaraj (1903–1975)	Gudiyatham	Indian National Congress	13 April 1954	31 March 1957	1st (2 years, 352 days)	Sri Prakasa
			Sattur		13 April 1957	1 March 1962	2nd (4 years, 322 days)	A. J. John	2nd
					15 March 1962	2 October 1963[RES]	3rd (1 year, 201 days)	Bishnuram Medhi	3rd
4		M. Bhakthavatsalam (1897–1987)	Sriperumbudur	Indian National Congress	2 October 1963	28 February 1967	1st (3 years, 149 days)	Bishnuram Medhi
5		C. N. Annadurai (1909–1969)	Leader of Madras State Legislative Council	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	6 March 1967	13 January 1969	1st (1 year, 313 days)	Sardar Ujjal Singh	4th

Timeline[]

Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu[]

Map of Tamil Nadu showing districts after some bifurcation of districts in the state

Map of India showing Tamil Nadu after some bifurcation of states in the country

Madras State was renamed as Tamil Nadu (Tamil for Tamil Country) on 14 January 1969.^{[citation needed]} The legislative assembly adopted a resolution on 14 May 1986, to abolish the legislative council. Thereafter, the legislative council was abolished through an act of Parliament named the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council (Abolition) Act, 1986^[19] with effect from 1 November 1986. The state legislature is unicameral, and consists of 235 members including one nominated member.^[6]

The chief minister commands most of the executive powers while the governor has a largely ceremonial role. The chief minister of Tamil Nadu, like other chief ministers of India, is elected by legislators of the political party or the coalition which commands a simple majority in the legislative assembly. The tenure of the chief minister extends as long as he or she enjoys the confidence of the assembly. The incumbent shall vacate the office in the event of a successful motion of no confidence. Also, the President of India, acting under the recommendations of the cabinet of ministers of the Government of India, can dismiss an elected government using certain provisions of Article 356 of the Constitution of India. In 1976, M. Karunanidhi's government was dismissed and president's rule was imposed on the grounds of corruption.^[20] If a vacancy is caused to the office of the chief minister due to death, demitting, or dismissal, the governor can invite another person to form the government and request him or her to move a confidence-seeking motion in the assembly. In the event of no one enjoying majority support, the assembly is either dissolved or put in suspended animation and the state comes under president's rule or a caretaker government until fresh elections are held for the assembly. The incumbent shall be disqualified if convicted of a criminal offence with a jail sentence of two years or more. In 2014, J. Jayalalithaa lost her post due to a special court sentencing her to four years of prison term in the disproportionate assets case.^[21]

Change in nomenclature

During the term of fourth assembly on 18 July 1967, the house by a resolution unanimously adopted and recommended that steps be taken by the State Government to secure necessary amendment to the Constitution of India to change the name of Madras State as Tamil Nadu. Accordingly, the Madras State (Alteration of Name) Act, 1968 (Central Act 53 of 1968) was passed by the Parliament of India and came into force on 14 January 1969.^[22] Consequently, the nomenclature Madras Legislative Assembly was changed into Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. From 1967 onward, the strength of the assembly continued to remain as 234 besides a nominated member.^[6]

From 1952 to 1986, the state have a parliamentary system of government with two democratically elected houses, the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. On 14 May 1986, the state government passed resolution to abolish the legislative council in the state then was moved and adopted by the house. On 1 November 1986, Tamil Nadu became an unicameral legislature and since then several times the state government has taken steps to reconstitute the legislative council, but they have failed for so long. Tamil Nadu Legislative Council has not been constituted till date in the state.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)		Elected Constituency	Political Party[b]	Term of office[10]			Assembly (Election)	Ministry	Appointed by
1		C. N. Annadurai (1909–1969)		Leader of the State Legislative Council	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	14 January 1969	3 February 1969[†]	20 days	4th (1967 election)	Annadurai	Sardar Ujjal Singh
Acting		V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (1920–2000)		Triplicane	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	3 February 1969	10 February 1969[RES]	7 days		Nedunchezhiyan I
2		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)		Saidapet	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	10 February 1969	14 March 1971	6 years, 355 days		Karunanidhi I
						15 March 1971	31 January 1976		5th (1971 election)	Karunanidhi II
–		Vacant (President's rule)		N/A		31 January 1976	29 June 1977	1 year, 149 days	Dissolved	N/A	–
3		M. G. Ramachandran (1917–1987)		Aruppukottai	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	30 June 1977	17 February 1980	2 years, 232 days	6th (1977 election)	Ramachandran I	Prabhudas Patwari
–		Vacant (President's rule)		N/A		17 February 1980	8 June 1980	112 days	Dissolved	N/A	–
(3)		M. G. Ramachandran (1917–1987)		Madurai West	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	9 June 1980[§]	9 February 1985	7 years, 198 days	7th (1980 election)	Ramachandran II	Prabhudas Patwari
				Andipatti		10 February 1985	24 December 1987[†]		8th (1984 election)	Ramachandran III	Sundar Lal Khurana
Acting		V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (1920–2000)		Athoor	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	24 December 1987	7 January 1988[RES]	14 days		Nedunchezhiyan II
4		V. N. Janaki Ramachandran (1923–1996)		Did not contest	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	7 January 1988	30 January 1988	23 days		Janaki
–		Vacant (President's rule)		N/A		30 January 1988	26 January 1989	362 days	Dissolved	N/A	–
(2)		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)		Harbour	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	27 January 1989[§]	30 January 1991	2 years, 3 days	9th (1989 election)	Karunanidhi III	P. C. Alexander
–		Vacant (President's rule)		N/A		30 January 1991	23 June 1991	144 days	Dissolved	N/A	–
5		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)		Bargur	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	24 June 1991	12 May 1996	4 years, 323 days	10th (1991 election)	Jayalalithaa I	Bhishma Narain Singh
(2)		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)		Chepauk	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	13 May 1996[§]	13 May 2001	5 years, 0 days	11th (1996 election)	Karunanidhi IV	Marri Chenna Reddy
(5)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)		Did not contest	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	14 May 2001[§]	21 September 2001[RES]	130 days	12th (2001 election)	Jayalalithaa II	Fathima Beevi
6		O. Panneerselvam (1951–)		Periyakulam	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	21 September 2001	2 March 2002[RES]	162 days		Panneerselvam I	C. Rangarajan
(5)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)		Andipatti	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	2 March 2002[§]	12 May 2006	4 years, 71 days		Jayalalithaa III	P. S. Ramamohan Rao
(2)		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)		Chepauk	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	13 May 2006[§]	15 May 2011	5 years, 2 days	13th (2006 election)	Karunanidhi V	Surjit Singh Barnala
(5)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)		Srirangam	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	16 May 2011[§]	27 September 2014	3 years, 134 days	14th (2011 election)	Jayalalithaa IV
(6)		O. Panneerselvam (1951–)		Bodinayakkanur	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	28 September 2014[§]	23 May 2015[RES]	237 days		Panneerselvam II	Konijeti Rosaiah
(5)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)		Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	23 May 2015[§]	22 May 2016	1 year, 196 days		Jayalalithaa V
						23 May 2016	5 December 2016[†]		15th (2016 election)	Jayalalithaa VI
(6)		O. Panneerselvam (1951–)		Bodinayakkanur	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	5 December 2016[§]	15 February 2017[RES]	72 days		Panneerselvam III	C. Vidyasagar Rao
7		Edappadi K. Palaniswami (1954–)		Edappadi	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	16 February 2017	6 May 2021	4 years, 79 days		Palaniswami
8		M. K. Stalin (1953–)		Kolathur	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	7 May 2021	Incumbent	134 days	16th (2021 election)	Stalin	Banwarilal Purohit
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)		Elected Constituency	Political Party	Term of office			Assembly (Election)	Ministry	Appointed by

Statistics[]

List of chief ministers by length of term

Timeline

List by party

Parties by total duration (in days) of holding Chief Minister's Office

Living former chief ministers[]

As of 18 September 2021, there are two living former chief ministers of Tamil Nadu:

• Living former chief ministers
• 

  O. Panneerselvam
  (2001–02, 2014–15, 2016–2017)
  (1951-01-14) 14 January 1951 (age 70)

• 

  Edappadi K. Palaniswami
  (2017–2021)
  (1954-05-12) 12 May 1954 (age 67)

The most recent death of a former chief minister was that of M. Karunanidhi on 7 August 2018, aged 94.

See also[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chief ministers of Tamil Nadu.

• History of Tamil Nadu
• Elections in Tamil Nadu
• List of governors of Tamil Nadu
• Chief Secretariat of Tamil Nadu
• Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
• List of current Indian chief ministers
• List of deputy chief ministers of Tamil Nadu
• List of chief ministers of Madras Presidency
• List of Speakers of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official Website of the Office of the Chief Minister