2006 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election

The thirteenth legislative assembly election, of Tamil Nadu was held on 8 May 2006. It was held for all 234 constituencies to elect the government in the state for the following five years. The votes were counted three days later on 11 May 2006 and all the results were out by the end of the day. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led front won the elections, with the DMK emerging as the single-largest party with 96 seats, and its leader, M Karunanidhi was sworn in as Chief Minister for a fifth and final term. This election marked the first time the state saw a hung assembly with no party gaining a majority of its own. As a result, DMK formed a minority government with its allies, which is the first in the state since the 1952 election. 13th Assembly was instituted due to this election.
The election marked the electoral debut of the actor Vijayakanth and his political outfit, the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam. Though the party could only gain a single seat, it cut into the vote share of both DMK and AIADMK and emerged as a third alternative to the existing two Dravidian parties.

Schedule

Event	Date
Date for Nominations	13 April 2006
Last Date for filing Nominations	20 April 2006
Date for scrutiny of nominations	21 April 2006
Last date for withdrawal of candidatures	24 April 2006
Date of poll	8 May 2006
Date of counting	11 May 2006

Polling

48848 polling stations were set up for electorate, that sized up to 46,607 eligible voters.

Political parties and the alliances

Tamil Nadu has a remarkable history of being dominated by the local parties, DMK or AIADMK, while the national parties have a strong presence in other states. The parties have resorted to forming alliances in the last few elections to take on each sides for power.
Striking changes in the alliances included the swap of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam from DMK led Democratic Progressive Alliance to All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam led Democratic People Alliance. While Dalit Panthers of India joined the AIADMK alliance, all other major parties in the fray such as Pattali Makkal Katchi, Indian National Congress, CPM and Communist Party of India, aligned themselves with the DMK party.
There were two notable new parties — Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam formed in September 2005 by actor-turned-politician Vijaykanth, and Lok Paritran formed by Indian Institutes of Technology graduates in February 2006. Both contested alone in this elections.
The contest was between two major alliances in a seat-sharing agreement, the AIADMK alliance and the DMK alliance. These archrivals had a face-off in 106 seats.
Exit Polls predicted a 157-167 seats in favour of the DMK alliance, while the AIADMK alliance was expected to get 64-74 seats in the assembly.
Before the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections, the Pattali Makkal Katchi left the DMK, citing differences with its leader M. Karunanidhi, and joined the AIADMK, and the Third Front.

Seat allotments

[Democratic Progressive Alliance]

Source: Junior Vikatan

Democratic People Alliance">AIADMK-led Alliance">Democratic People Alliance

Source: Junior Vikatan

Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam

Source: Junior Vikatan

Party	Election Symbol	Leader	Seats Contested
Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam		Vijayakant	232
Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam		Vijayakant	2

The two seats that DMDK contested in Ring symbol instead of nagara.

Bharatiya Janata Party

Source: Junior Vikatan

Opinion polling

Exit polls

Region	DPA (DMK+)	AIADMK+	DMDK
Vanniyars: PMK could not swing the community towards DMK alliance, especially in the North Central Region	Vanniyars: PMK could not swing the community towards DMK alliance, especially in the North Central Region	Vanniyars: PMK could not swing the community towards DMK alliance, especially in the North Central Region	Vanniyars: PMK could not swing the community towards DMK alliance, especially in the North Central Region
Upper North	40%	45%	11%
North Central	53%	32%	9%
Cauvery Delta	55%	28%	10%
West	53%	28%	11%
Thevars: No longer with AIADMK in Cauvery Delta and the West	Thevars: No longer with AIADMK in Cauvery Delta and the West	Thevars: No longer with AIADMK in Cauvery Delta and the West	Thevars: No longer with AIADMK in Cauvery Delta and the West
Cauvery Delta	51%	38%	7%
West	43%	39%	11%
South	39%	44%	8%
Deep South	13%	52%	2%
Muslims in favor of DMK alliance, especially in Deep South	Muslims in favor of DMK alliance, especially in Deep South	Muslims in favor of DMK alliance, especially in Deep South	Muslims in favor of DMK alliance, especially in Deep South
Upper North	43%	30%	18%
North Central	36%	39%	18%
Cauvery Delta	53%	37%	5%
West	50%	31%	10%
South	50%	38%	7%
Deep South	73%	9%	5%
Christians stayed with DMK alliance, especially in the South	Christians stayed with DMK alliance, especially in the South	Christians stayed with DMK alliance, especially in the South	Christians stayed with DMK alliance, especially in the South
Upper North	49%	29%	13%
North Central	47%	36%	12%
Cauvery Delta	46%	39%	9%
West	48%	29%	10%
South	60%	33%	4%
Deep South	64%	16%	7%

Voting and results

The 2006 Tamil Nadu State Elections saw a record voter turnout of 70.70% an 11% increase compared to the last 2001 elections and the highest since the 1991 elections which saw an 85% voter turnout. The ruling party AIADMK was voted out of power with the DMK alliance regaining power after losing out in the previous elections with a paltry 37 seats. This time however, no party reached the simple majority of 117 of the 234 seats. DMK grabbed the highest number of seats for any contesting party, while AIADMK followed with 61 seats. The Congress won 34 seats while the other national party, Bharatiya Janata Party, drew blank after contesting alone in this elections. PMK managed to win 18 seats followed by the Communists. MDMK, the party that jumped alliance won 6 seats and the DPI won 2 seats. DMDK, even while contesting in 232 seats managed to score just one seat, with the party leader actor vijayakant winning the seat he contested in Vridhachalam Constituency. There was 1 independent winner.
The split results paved way for the formation of the new coalition government led by DMK chief, the 82-year-old veteran politician Dr.M Karunanidhi, becoming the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the fifth time, with the Congress unconditionally supporting his claim for Chief Ministership and government formation.
Due to the loss of key allies after the previous election, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, ended up losing both the 2004 Lok Sabha Election and the 2006 State Assembly Elections, to DMK led coalition that consisted of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and former allies of AIADMK, Indian National Congress, left parties and Pattali Makkal Katchi.

Results by pre-poll alliance

List of elected members (constituency wise)

The following table lists the winners and margin of victory in all constituencies.

Aftermath

M. Karunanidhi sworned as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for 5th time. Even DMK had only 96 MLAs and formed government with the outside support of Congress, Left Parties, Pattali Makkal Katchi. Later Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi joined in DPA in September 2006, ahead of Local Body election.