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All 234 elected seats in the Legislature of Tamil Nadu 118 seats needed for a majority |
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A Legislative Assembly election was held on 16 May 2016 for the 232 seats (except Thanjavur and Aravakurichi) of the Legislative Assembly in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. AIADMK under Jayalalithaa won the elections and became the first ruling party to be re-elected in Tamil Nadu since 1984, though with a reduced majority.DMK won half of the seats it contested but its allies performed poorly; notably, the Indian National Congress won 16% of the seats they contested and the alliance lost due to its poor performance. The votes were counted on 19 May 2016. In the previous election in 2011, AIADMK, under the leadership of Jayalalithaa, won a simple majority and formed the government, while DMDK chief Vijayakanth served as the Leader of Opposition until January 2016.
By the requirement, state assembly election must be held at an interval of five years or whenever it is dissolved by the president. The previous election, to the 14th legislative assembly, was conducted 13 April 2011 and its term would have naturally expired on 22 May 2016. The election to the 16th legislative assembly was organised and conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and was held in a single phase on 16 May 2016. There were over 5.79 crore voters in the electoral rolls and 65,616 polling stations in Tamil Nadu.