Template:Infobox official post The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the head of government of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's de jure head, while the de facto 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 the majority of seats in the assembly to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given that the chief minister has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.[1]
Since 1950, Tamil Nadu has had 14 chief ministers.Template:Efn The first four chief ministers belonged to the Indian National Congress, of which K. Kamaraj held the post for the longest, for more than nine years. With the rise of Dravidian parties in the state, C. N. Annadurai of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) became the first non-Congress chief minister in 1969. Annadurai was from the Tamil film industry, and since his tenure, a significant number of the state's chief ministers have hailed from the industry.[2]
M. Karunanidhi of the DMK succeeded Annadurai, and was the longest-serving chief minister, holding the office for nearly nineteen years across five tenures.[3] M. G. Ramachandran of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) took office in 1977 and served for nearly a decade across three terms.Template:Efn[4] In 1987, V. N. Janaki Ramachandran of the AIADMK became the first woman to hold the position of the state's chief minister.[5] J. Jayalalithaa of the AIADMK became the youngest Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu at the age of 43 in 1991, and had the second longest tenure, holding the office for more than fourteen years across multiple terms.[6]
There have been four instances of President's rule in Tamil Nadu, most recently in 1991. C. Joseph Vijay of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam is the incumbent since 10 May 2026, and is the first chief minister from a non-Dravidian party since 1967.[7]
List
The Madras Presidency, based at Fort St. George, was a presidency of India that was established in 1652 by the English East India Company to be the headquarters of the English settlements on the Coromandel Coast.
The territory under the presidency consisted of the village of Madrasapattinam and its surrounding regions. After a series of wars including the Anglo-French wars, Anglo-Mysore wars, and Polygar wars, and the consequent alliance with the Nawab of Arcot, it was expanded to cover the region from the Northern Circars to Cape Comorin, and included 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.
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 leaders. However, the members were appointed and not elected by the public. With the enactment of the Government of India Act 1919, the first elected legislature was formed in 1920 after the general elections.[8] 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.
As per 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 three years and having the power to decide on bills passed by the assembly.[9]
In 1939, the Governor-General of India declared India's entry into World War II without consulting the Imperial Legislative Council. The Indian National Congress protested by asking all its elected representatives to resign from governments.[10] It was reconstituted after new provincial elections were conducted in 1946.[11] 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.
Template:Multiple image Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2
- Color key for political parties
- Key
- Template:Note label Resigned
- Template:Note label Died in office
- Template:Note label Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term
Chief Ministers of Madras Presidency
Timeline
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</timeline>
Development after independence
Madras State, the precursor to the present-day state of Tamil Nadu, was created after India became a republic on 26 January 1950.[13] It consisted of 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.
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 State were carved out of Madras State.[14] Under the Andhra Pradesh and Madras Alteration of Boundaries Act, 1959, with effect from 1 April 1960, Tiruttani 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.[15] Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2
- Color key for political parties
- Key
- Template:Note label Resigned
- Template:Note label Died in office
Chief Ministers of Madras State
.jpg)
- Change in nomenclature
During the term of the fourth assembly on 18 July 1967, the house unanimously adopted and recommended that steps be taken by the state government to secure the necessary amendment to the Constitution of India to change the name of Madras State to 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.[16][17] Consequently, the nomenclature "Madras Legislative Assembly" was changed to "Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly". From 1967 onwards, the strength of the assembly continued to remain at 234 plus a nominated member.
From 1952 to 1986, the state had 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 a resolution to abolish the legislative council in the state, which was then moved and adopted by the house. On 1 November 1986, Tamil Nadu became a state with a 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. The Tamil Nadu Legislative Council has not been constituted in the state to date. Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2
- Legend
- Color key for political parties
- Key
- Template:Note label Resigned
- Template:Note label Died in office
- Template:Note label Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term
Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu
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- Timeline
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</timeline>
Statistics
- List of chief ministers by length of term
- List by party
| Template:Abbr | Political party | Number of chief ministers | Total days of holding CMO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | Template:Party color cell | 5 (+1 acting) | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". days |
| 2 | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | Template:Party color cell | 3 (+1 acting) | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". days |
| 3 | Indian National Congress | Template:Party color cell | 4 | 6247 days |
| 4 | Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam | Template:Party color cell | 1 | Template:Age in days days |
- Parties by total duration (in days) of holding Chief Minister's Office
Script error: No such module "Chart".
<timeline> Define $width = 1000 Define $warning = 845 # $width – 155 Define $height = 450 # 13x20 + 160
Define $start = 1878 Define $end = 2030 Define $now = 2026
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bar:2 width:20 color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M from:1878.9425 till:1952.2732 shift:(-55,$dy) textcolor:NAME align:left text:C. Rajagopalachari color:CM_INC from:1952.2732 till:1954.2822 color:LIFESPAN from:1954.2822 till:1972.9836
bar:3 width:20 color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M from:1903.5370 till:1954.2822 shift:(-33,$dy) textcolor:NAME align:left text:K. Kamaraj color:CM_INC from:1954.2822 till:1963.7534 color:LIFESPAN from:1963.7534 till:1975.7534
bar:4 width:20 color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M from:1897.7726 till:1963.7534 shift:(-57,$dy) textcolor:NAME align:left text:M. Bhakthavatsalam color:CM_INC from:1963.7534 till:1967.1753 color:LIFESPAN from:1967.1753 till:1987.1205
bar:5 width:20 color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M from:1909.7068 till:1967.1753 shift:(0,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:C. N. Annadurai color:CM_DMK from:1967.1753 till:1969.0931
bar:6 width:20 color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M from:1920.5273 till:1969.0931 shift:(0,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:V. R. Nedunchezhiyan color:CM_DMK from:1969.0931 till:1969.1123 color:LIFESPAN from:1969.1123 till:1987.9808 color:CM_AIADMK from:1987.9808 till:1988.0191 color:LIFESPAN from:1988.0191 till:2000.0328
bar:7 width:20 color:LIFESPAN align:left fontsize:M from:1924.4235 till:1969.1123 shift:(-50,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:M. Karunanidhi color:CM_DMK from:1969.1123 till:1976.0847 color:LIFESPAN from:1976.0847 till:1989.0740 color:CM_DMK from:1989.0740 till:1991.0822 color:LIFESPAN from:1991.0822 till:1996.3661 color:CM_DMK from:1996.3661 till:2001.3644 color:LIFESPAN from:2001.3644 till:2006.3644 color:CM_DMK from:2006.3644 till:2011.3699 color:LIFESPAN from:2011.3699 till:2018.6
bar:8 width:20 color:LIFESPAN align:left fontsize:M from:1917.0466 till:1977.4959 shift:(-65,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:M. G. Ramachandran color:CM_AIADMK from:1977.4959 till:1980.1311 color:LIFESPAN from:1980.1311 till:1980.4399 color:CM_AIADMK from:1980.4399 till:1987.9808
bar:9 width:20 color:LIFESPAN align:left fontsize:M from:1923.9150 till:1988.0191 shift:(-85,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:V. N. Janaki Ramachandran color:CM_AIADMK from:1988.0191 till:1988.0820 color:LIFESPAN from:1988.0820 till:1996.3825
bar:10 width:20 color:LIFESPAN align:left fontsize:M from:1948.1503 till:1991.4794 shift:(-45,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:J. Jayalalithaa color:CM_AIADMK from:1991.4794 till:1996.3634 color:LIFESPAN from:1996.3634 till:2001.3671 color:CM_AIADMK from:2001.3671 till:2001.7232 color:LIFESPAN from:2001.7232 till:2002.1671 color:CM_AIADMK from:2002.1671 till:2006.3616 color:LIFESPAN from:2006.3616 till:2011.3726 color:CM_AIADMK from:2011.3726 till:2014.7397 color:LIFESPAN from:2014.7397 till:2015.3918 color:CM_AIADMK from:2015.3918 till:2016.9290
bar:11 width:20 color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M from:1951.0383 till:2001.7232 shift:(-2,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:O. Panneerselvam color:CM_AIADMK from:2001.7232 till:2002.1671 color:LIFESPAN from:2002.1671 till:2014.7425 color:CM_AIADMK from:2014.7425 till:2015.3918 color:LIFESPAN from:2015.3918 till:2016.9317 color:CM_AIADMK from:2016.9317 till:2017.1260 color:LIFESPAN from:2017.1260 till:$now
bar:12 width:20 color:LIFESPAN align:left fontsize:M from:1954.3616 till:2017.1288 shift:(-75,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:Edappadi K. Palaniswami color:CM_AIADMK from:2017.1288 till:2021.3452 color:LIFESPAN from:2021.3452 till:$now
bar:13 width:20 color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M from:1953.1644 till:2021.3479 shift:(-10,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:M. K. Stalin color:CM_DMK from:2021.3479 till:2026.3534 color:LIFESPAN from:2026.3534 till:$now
bar:14 width:20 color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M from:1974.4740 till:2026.3562 shift:(-10,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:C. Joseph Vijay color:CM_TVK from:2026.3562 till:$now color:LIFESPAN from:$now till:$now
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See also
- History of Tamil Nadu
- Politics of Tamil Nadu
- Elections in Tamil Nadu
- Governor of Tamil Nadu
- Chief Secretariat of Tamil Nadu
- Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
- List of current Indian chief ministers
- Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
- Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
- Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
- List of leaders of the house in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
Notes
References
- ↑ Introduction to the Constitution of India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa(1960). ISBN 978-81-8038-559-9
- ↑ M G Ramachandran: The first film actor to become Chief Minister in India(14 October 2013). Retrieved 15 October 2013.
- ↑ In pictures: M. Karunanidhi, the five-term Chief Minister. The Hindu(7 August 2018). Retrieved 10 August 2018.
- ↑ Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
- ↑ Janaki Ramachandran, the first woman chief minister of Tamil Nadu who ruled for 24 days(19 May 2020). Retrieved 21 May 2020.
- ↑ The five oaths of Jayalalithaa. The Hindu(23 May 2016). Retrieved 25 May 2016.
- ↑ C. Joseph Vijay sworn in as Chief Minister. The Hindu(10 May 2026). Retrieved 10 May 2026.
- ↑ Government of India Act, 1919. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
- ↑ Government of India Act, 1935. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
- ↑ Resignation of Congress Ministers ,1939. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
- ↑ Cabinet Mission Plan (Cabinet Mission, 1946). Retrieved 23 May 2016.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 The ordinal number of the term being served by the person specified in the row in the corresponding period
- ↑ The Constitution of India. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
- ↑ Explainer: The reorganization of states in India and why it happened(2 November 2016). Retrieved 5 November 2016.
- ↑ The Andhra Pradesh And Madras (Alteration Of Boundaries) Act, 1959(24 December 1959). Retrieved 25 December 2016.
- ↑ Madras State (Alteration of Name) Act, 1968(20 December 1968). Retrieved 1 November 2019.
- ↑ Tracing the demand to rename Madras State as Tamil Nadu. The Hindu(6 January 2023). Retrieved 14 January 2023.
External links
Template:Chief ministers of Tamil Nadu Template:Chief Ministers of Indian States Template:Authority control