Tamil Nadu state assembly election, 1971

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, 1971

← 1967

March 1971

1977 →

All 234 seats in the Legislature of Tamil Nadu

	First party	Second party

Leader	M. Karunanidhi	K. Kamaraj
Party	DMK	NCO
Leader's seat	Saidapet	did not contest
Seats won	205	21
Seat change	+26	-50
Popular vote	8,506,078	5,579,039
Percentage	54.30%	37.94%

Chief Minister before election

M. Karunanidhi
DMK

Chief Minister

M. Karunanidhi
DMK

The fifth legislative assembly election of Tamil Nadu was held in March 1971. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was re-elected, after its first victory under the leadership of C N Annadurai in 1967. This was the first time M. Karunanidhi, contested as the leader of DMK party won the election, since he assumed Chief Ministership for the first time, after the death of C N Annadurai. Karunanidhi had emerged successfully in the leadership crisis with other party leaders M. G. Ramachandran, and Nedunchezhiyan, which ensued after the death of C. N. Annadurai. The main opposition party in the election was Indian National Congress (Organisation) led by K. Kamaraj, whereas the Indian National Congress (Indira) faction aligned with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

The opposition party, Indian National Congress was heavily weakened due to a split that occurred in 1969. This led to the formation of Indian National Congress (Organisation) under K. Kamaraj, which was the major opposition in this election, while the Indian National Congress, supported the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Indira Gandhi continued as Prime Minister with the support of Communist parties and DMK which had 25 seats in the Lok Sabha. It was during this time, the long-awaited Salem steel mill was approved. The ruling Congress party decided to dissolve the Lok Sabha and conduct early elections and Karunanidhi also decided to dissolve the state assembly and face the elections in alliance with Indira's Congress one year before the end of his term.

...
Wikipedia