DMK-led Alliance

The DMK-led Alliance (abbr. DMK+) was an Indian regional political party alliance in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry led by the Dravidian party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam founded by the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu C. N. Annadurai in 1967.

DMK - led Alliance
Abbreviation	DMK+
Chairman	M. Karunanidhi
Founder	C. N. Annadurai
Founded	February 1967
Dissolved	March 2006
Succeeded by	Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA)
Political position	Big tent
Colours	Red
Politics of India Political parties Elections

History

The General Secretary and Founder of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, C. N. Annadurai formed an alliance comprising Swatantra Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Indian Union Muslim League for the 1967 Indian general election. Whereas the alliance for 1967 Madras State Legislative Assembly election also included Praja Socialist Party, Samyukta Socialist Party, Naam Tamilar Katchi, Tamil Arasu Kazhagam and a couple of Independents.

Indian General Election

Post the demise of DMK Chief Minister C. N. Annadurai, senior leader and minister M. Karunanidhi assumed charge as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 1969. He decided to form an alliance with Indian National Congress (R), Communist Party of India, Indian Union Muslim League and All India Forward Bloc for the 1971 Indian general election.

For the 1977 Indian general election, the party formed an alliance with Indian National Congress (Organization) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) as a part of "Janata Alliance". The alliance won only five seats in the election.^[1]

For the 1980 Indian general election, the party formed an alliance with Indian National Congress and Indian Union Muslim League as a part of "Congress Alliance". The alliance won 37 seats in the election.^[2]

For the 1984 Indian general election, the party formed an alliance with Janata Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India and Tamil Nadu Congress Party. The alliance won only 2 seats due to a political wave in favour of demise of Indira Gandhi.

For the 1989 Indian general election, the party formed an alliance with Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Janata Dal. The alliance won only the Nagapattinam seat. But the new government under V. P. Singh made Murasoli Maran as a cabinet minister for Ministry of Urban Development after his nomination as a Rajya Sabha member^[3]
.

For the 1991 Indian general election, the party continued its alliance with Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Janata Dal as a part of the National Front. The alliance lost heavily, not winning a single seat. During this election, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, when campaigning for Margatham Chandrasekar for the Indian National Congress, in the Sriperumbudur constituency.

For the 1996 Indian general election, the party formed a formidable alliance with Tamil Maanila Congress, a brek away faction from Indian National Congress and Communist Party of India. The alliance bagged all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu.^[4][5]

For the 1998 Indian general election, the party formed a formidable alliance with Tamil Maanila Congress and Communist Party of India. The alliance bagged only 9 seats in Tamil Nadu. Even though Communist Party of India (Marxist) originally wanted to contest in support of the United Front, it decided to contest alone when only 1 seat (Coimbatore) was offered. After the fallout, Communist Party of India (Marxist) wanted to contest 6 seats in Tamil Nadu on its own, but eventually only contested 2 seats and decided to support DMK-TMC front in the other 37 seats. This was done to keep out the possibility of any vote splitting that might result in National Democratic Alliance gaining seats.^[6]

For the 1999 Indian general election, the party formed a formidable alliance with Pattali Makkal Katchi, Bharatiya Janata Party, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, MGR Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, MGR Kazhagam and Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress.^[7] The alliance bagged 26 seats in the election with a large chunk of ministers from Tamil Nadu being appointed in the NDA Ministry.^[8]

For the 2004 Indian general election, the party formed a formidable alliance with Indian National Congress, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Indian Union Muslim League, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Congress Jananayaka Peravai and bagged all the 39 seats.^[9]

Members In DMK Led-Alliance

Political Party		State	Time of being situated	Eci Status
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Tamil Nadu	1967-2006	State party
	Indian National Congress	All India	1971-1974, 1980-1983, 2004–2006	National party
	Bharatiya Janata Party	All India	1999-2003	National party
	Pattali Makkal Katchi	Tamil Nadu	1999-2001, 2002-2006	unrecognized party
	Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Tamil Nadu	1999-2001, 2004-2006	unrecognized party
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	All India	1967-1971, 1984-1999, 2004–2006	National party
	Communist Party of India	All India	1971-1977, 1984-1989, 1991-1999, 2004-2006	State party
	Janata Dal	All India	1989-1996	unrecognized party
	Janata Party	All India	1977-1980, 1984-1989	unrecognized party
	Indian Union Muslim League	All India	1967-1977, 1980-1984, 2004–2006	State party
	Puthiya Tamilagam	Tamil Nadu	2001-2004, 2014-2019	unrecognized party
	Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi	Tamil Nadu	2001-2004	unrecognized party
	Tamil Maanila Congress	Tamil Nadu	1996-1999 later merged with INC	unrecognized party
	All India Forward Bloc	All India	1967-1977, 1996-2001	state party
	Thayaga Marumalarchi Kazhagam	Tamil Nadu	1991	unrecognized party
	Indian National League	Tamil Nadu	1996-2001	unrecognized party
	Puratchi Bharatham Katchi	Tamil Nadu	2006	unrecognized party
	MGR Kazhagam	Tamil Nadu	1995-2004	unrecognized party
	Congress Jananayaka Peravai	Tamil Nadu	2001-2004 later merged with INC	unrecognized party
	MGR Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Tamil Nadu	1999-2003 later merged with BJP	unrecognized party
	Makkal Tamil Desam Katchi	Tamil Nadu	2001-2004	unrecognized party
	Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress	Tamil Nadu	1999-2001 later merged with INC	unrecognized party
	Puthiya Needhi Katchi	Tamil Nadu	2001-2004	unrecognized party
	Thondar Congress	Tamil Nadu	2001-2002 later merged with INC	unrecognized party
	Kongunadu Makkal Katchi	Tamil Nadu	2001	unrecognized party
	Indian Uzhavar Uzhaippalar Katchi	Tamil Nadu	2001	unrecognized party
	Thamilar Bhoomi	Tamil Nadu	2001	unrecognized party
	Thamizhaga Muslim Iykka Jamaat	Tamil Nadu	2001	unrecognized party
	Tamil Pattali Makkal Katchi	Tamil Nadu	2001	unrecognized party
	Tamilnadu Mutharayar Sangam	Tamil Nadu	2001	unrecognized party

Indian general elections

State Legislative Assembly elections

Tamil Nadu

State Legislative Assembly Elections in Tamil Nadu

Duration	Election Year	Allied parties	Seats won
DMK-led Alliance
1967	1967 Indian general election	DMK, SP, CPI(M) and IUML, PSP, SSP, NTK, TAK and two Independents	179 / 234
1971	1971 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election	DMK, INC(R), CPI, IUML, PSP and AIFB	205 / 234
DMK+
1977	1977 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election	DMK	48 / 234
DMK-led Alliance
1980	1980 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election	DMK, INC, IUML and two Independents	69 / 234
1984	1984 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election	DMK, JP, CPI (M) and CPI	34 / 234
1989	1989 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election	DMK, CPI(M) and JD	150 / 234
1991	1991 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election	DMK, CPI, TMK, CPI(M) and JD	7 / 234
1996	1996 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election	DMK, TMC(M), AIFB, IUML and CPI	221 / 234
DMK-led Alliance
2001	2001 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election	DMK, BJP, PT, MDK, PNK, MADMK, MGRK, IUUK, TCP, TBK, VCK, CJP, TMIJ, TPMK, TNMS and KMK	37 / 234
DMK-led Alliance
2006	2006 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election	DMK, INC, PMK, IUML, CPI(M), CPI, PBK and AIFB (Vallarasu)	163 / 234

Puducherry

State Legislative Assembly Elections in Puducherry

Duration	Election Year	Allied parties	Seats won
DMK-CPI Alliance
1969	1969 Pondicherry Legislative Assembly election	DMK, CPI and two Independents	20 / 30
DMK+
1974	1974 Pondicherry Legislative Assembly election	DMK	2 / 30
1977	1977 Pondicherry Legislative Assembly election	3 / 30
DMK-Congress(Indira) Alliance
1980	1980 Pondicherry Legislative Assembly election	DMK, Indian National Congress(Indira) and two Independents	26 / 30
DMK-Janata Party Alliance
1985	1985 Pondicherry Legislative Assembly election	DMK and JP	7 / 30
DMK-CPI Alliance
1990	1990 Pondicherry Legislative Assembly election	DMK, CPI, JD and an Independent	16 / 30
1991	1991 Pondicherry Legislative Assembly election	DMK, CPI, JD and two Independents	9 / 30
1996	1996 Pondicherry Legislative Assembly election	DMK, TMC(M), CPI, JD and two Independents	17 / 30
National Democratic Alliance
2001	2001 Pondicherry Legislative Assembly election	DMK, BJP, PMC	12 / 30

Dissolution

The alliance was dissolved in 2006 to form the "Democratic Progressive Alliance" . Then the alliance was eventually named as Secular Progressive Alliance in 2018 by the newly elected DMK President M. K. Stalin.

See also

• Secular Progressive Alliance
• AIADMK-led Alliance
• United Progressive Alliance
• National Democratic Alliance
• United Front (India)

References

1. "India - Date of Elections: March 16 to 20, 1977" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 April 2022.
2. "From the archives: Why is 1980 Tamil Nadu Assembly election worthy of note?". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 26 April 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
3. Crossette, Barbara (6 December 1989). "New Indian Leader Swears in Cabinet". The New York Times.
4. "Indian Union – Council of Ministers". Archived from the original on 8 March 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
5. "ECI: Statistical Report 1998" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-06-16.
6. "Piqued CPM to stay away from Front in TN".
7. "Jaya dumps unwanted seats on Cong". indianexpress.com. 1999-07-31. Archived from the original on 2008-07-16.
8. "News Headings". www.tribuneindia.com.
9. "The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Ayodhya one reason for quitting NDA, says Karunanidhi". Archived from the original on 13 September 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2009.

Bibliography

• Volume I, 1967 Indian general election, 4th Lok Sabha
• Volume I, 1971 Indian general election, 5th Lok Sabha
• DMK on the Defensive Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 6, No. 3/5, Annual Number (Jan., 1971), pp. 189–190 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
• Volume I, 1977 Indian general election, 6th Lok Sabha
• Volume I, 1980 Indian general election, 7th Lok Sabha
  • Volume I, 1984 Indian general election, 8th Lok Sabha