List of chief ministers of Tamil Nadu

The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's de jure head, but de facto executive 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 a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given that he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.^[2]

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
Tamiḻnāṭu Mutalamaiccar
Emblem of Tamil Nadu
Incumbent M. K. Stalin since 7 May 2021
Chief Minister's Office
Style	The Honourable (formal) Mr./Mrs./Ms. Chief Minister (informal)
Type	Head of government
Status	Leader of the Executive
Abbreviation	CMOTN
Member of	Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Tamil Nadu Council of Ministers
Reports to	Governor of Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
Residence	25/9, Chittaranjan Salai, Cenotaph 2nd Lane, Alwarpettai, Chennai – 600018, Tamil Nadu, India.
Seat	Office of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Fort St. George, Chennai – 600009, Tamil Nadu, India.
Appointer	Governor of Tamil Nadu
Formation	10 April 1952; 72 years ago (1952-04-10)
First holder	A. Subbarayalu Reddiar (as Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency)[1] P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja (as Chief Minister of Madras State) C. N. Annadurai (as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu)
Deputy	Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
Website	Official website

Since 1952, Tamil Nadu has had 12 chief ministers, 13 including V. R. Nedunchezhiyan, who twice acted in the role. The longest-serving chief minister, M. Karunanidhi from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam held the office for over eighteen years in multiple tenures, while he was the one who had the largest gap between two terms (nearly thirteen years). The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's former general secretary J. Jayalalithaa has the second-longest tenure, and its founder M. G. Ramachandran, the first actor to become the chief minister in India has the third-longest tenure, while his wife V. N. Janaki Ramachandran has the shortest tenure (only 23 days). K. Kamaraj resigned his post of his own free will and devoted all of his energy to the revitalization of the Indian National Congress party; he was responsible for the elevation of Lal Bahadur Shastri to the position of Prime Minister of the Republic of India following the death of Jawaharlal Nehru and of Indira Gandhi following the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri. C. Rajagopalachari served as the last Governor-General of the Union of India before becoming chief minister of undivided Madras State. There have been four instances of president's rule in Tamil Nadu, most recently in 1991.^[3][4]

The current incumbent is M. K. Stalin of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam since 7 May 2021.

List of chief ministers

The Madras Presidency, headquartered in Fort St. George, India, was a presidency of India that comprised 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. It was established in 1653 to be the headquarters of the English settlements on the Coromandel Coast.

The territory under the presidency comprised only Madrasapattinam and its surrounding regions. But, after the Anglo-French wars and the consequent alliance between the English East India Company and the Nawab of Arcot, it was expanded to comprise the region from the Northern Circars to Cape Comorin. 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.

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 business leaders. But membership was selected (not elected) and was not representative of the masses.

With the enactment of the Government of India Act 1919, the first legislature was formed in 1920 after general elections.^[5] 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. Under 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 3 years and having the power to decide on bills passed by the assembly.^[6]

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.^[7] Then it came back to power in 1946 after new provincial elections.^[8]

The state of Tamil Nadu in India has an electorate of more than 70 million people (7 crore).^[9]

Madras Presidency in 1909, showing in the southern portion of India.

Since 1920, Fort St. George has been the Chief Secretariat of Tamil Nadu.

Color key for political parties   Independent   Indian National Congress   South Indian Liberal Federation

Key RES Resigned † Died in office § Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term

Chief Ministers of the Madras Presidency
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected constituency	Term of office[10]			Council (Election)	Ministry	Appointed by	Political party[a]
				Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		A. Subbarayalu Reddiar (1855–1921)	Leader of the Presidency Legislative Council	17 December 1920	11 July 1921[RES]	206 days	1st (1920)	Reddiar	Frederic Thesiger	South Indian Liberal Federation
2		Panaganti Ramarayaningar (1866–1928)	Leader of the Presidency Legislative Council	11 July 1921	11 September 1923	5 years, 145 days		Ramarayaningar I	Rufus Isaacs
				12 September 1923	3 December 1926		2nd (1923)	Ramarayaningar II
3		P. Subbarayan (1889–1962)	Leader of the Presidency Legislative Council	4 December 1926	27 October 1930	3 years, 327 days	3rd (1926)	Subbarayan	Edward Wood	Independent
4		B. Munuswamy Naidu (1885–1935)	Leader of the Presidency Legislative Council	27 October 1930	4 November 1932[RES]	2 years, 8 days	4th (1930)	Naidu		South Indian Liberal Federation
5		Ramakrishna Ranga Rao (1901–1978)	Leader of the Presidency Legislative Council	5 November 1932	5 November 1934	3 years, 151 days		Rao I	Freeman Freeman-Thomas
				5 November 1934	4 April 1936[RES]		5th (1934)	Rao II
6		P. T. Rajan (1892–1974)	Leader of the Presidency Legislative Council	4 April 1936	24 August 1936[RES]	142 days		Rajan
(5)		Ramakrishna Ranga Rao (1901–1978)	Leader of the Presidency Legislative Council	24 August 1936[§]	1 April 1937	220 days		Rao III	Victor Hope
7		Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu (1875–1942)	Leader of the Presidency Legislative Council	1 April 1937	14 July 1937[RES]	104 days	1st (1937)	Naidu		Independent
8		C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972)	Leader of the Presidency Legislative Council	14 July 1937	29 October 1939[RES]	2 years, 107 days		Rajagopalachari I		Indian National Congress
–		Vacant (Governor-General's rule)	N/A	29 October 1939	29 April 1946	6 years, 182 days	Dissolved	N/A	–	N/A
9		T. Prakasam (1872–1957)	Leader of the Presidency Legislative Council	30 April 1946	23 March 1947[RES]	327 days	2nd (1946)	Prakasam	Archibald Wavell	Indian National Congress
10		Omanthur P. Ramaswamy Reddiar (1895–1970)	Leader of the Presidency Legislative Council	23 March 1947	6 April 1949[RES]	2 years, 14 days		Reddiar	Archibald Nye
11		P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja (1898–1957)	Leader of the Presidency Legislative Council	6 April 1949	25 January 1950	294 days		Raja	Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji

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.^[11] It comprised 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.^[12]

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. 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.^[5][13]

Color key for political parties   Indian National Congress   Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

Key RES Resigned † Died in office

Chief Ministers of Madras State
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected constituency	Term of office[10]			Assembly (Election)	Ministry	Appointed by	Political party[a]
				Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja (1898–1957)	Leader of the State Legislative Council	26 January 1950	9 April 1952	2 years, 74 days	2nd (1946)	Raja	Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji	Indian National Congress
2		C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972)	Leader of the State Legislative Council	10 April 1952	13 April 1954[RES]	2 years, 3 days	1st (1952)	Rajagopalachari II	Sri Prakasa
3		K. Kamaraj (1903–1975)	Gudiyatham	13 April 1954	12 April 1957	9 years, 172 days		Kamaraj I
			Sattur	13 April 1957	14 March 1962		2nd (1957)	Kamaraj II	A. J. John
				15 March 1962	2 October 1963[RES]		3rd (1962)	Kamaraj III	Bishnu Ram Medhi
4		M. Bhakthavatsalam (1897–1987)	Sriperumbudur	2 October 1963	5 March 1967	3 years, 154 days		Bhakthavatsalam
5		C. N. Annadurai (1909–1969)	Leader of the State Legislative Council	6 March 1967	13 January 1969	1 year, 313 days	4th (1967)	Annadurai	Ujjal Singh	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

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.^[14] Consequently, the nomenclature "Madras Legislative Assembly" was changed to "Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly". From 1967 onward, 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 till date.

Legend   Acting chief minister Color key for political parties   Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam   All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

Key RES Resigned † Died in office § Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term

Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected constituency	Term of office[10]			Assembly (Election)	Ministry	Appointed by	Political party[a]
				Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		C. N. Annadurai (1909–1969)	Leader of the State Legislative Council	14 January 1969	3 February 1969[†]	20 days	4th (1967)	Annadurai	Ujjal Singh	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Acting		V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (1920–2000)	Triplicane	3 February 1969	10 February 1969[RES]	7 days		Nedunchezhiyan I
2		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)	Saidapet	10 February 1969	14 March 1971	6 years, 355 days		Karunanidhi I
				15 March 1971	31 January 1976		5th (1971)	Karunanidhi II
–		Vacant (President's rule)	N/A	31 January 1976	29 June 1977	1 year, 149 days	Dissolved	N/A	–	N/A
3		M. G. Ramachandran (1917–1987)	Aruppukottai	30 June 1977	17 February 1980	2 years, 232 days	6th (1977)	Ramachandran I	Prabhudas B. Patwari	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
–		Vacant (President's rule)	N/A	17 February 1980	8 June 1980	112 days	Dissolved	N/A	–	N/A
(3)		M. G. Ramachandran (1917–1987)	Madurai West	9 June 1980[§]	9 February 1985	7 years, 198 days	7th (1980)	Ramachandran II	Prabhudas B. Patwari	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
			Andipatti	10 February 1985	24 December 1987[†]		8th (1984)	Ramachandran III	S. L. Khurana
Acting		V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (1920–2000)	Athoor	24 December 1987	7 January 1988[RES]	14 days		Nedunchezhiyan II
4		V. N. Janaki Ramachandran (1923–1996)	did not contest	7 January 1988	30 January 1988	23 days		Janaki
–		Vacant (President's rule)	N/A	30 January 1988	26 January 1989	362 days	Dissolved	N/A	–	N/A
(2)		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)	Harbour	27 January 1989[§]	30 January 1991	2 years, 3 days	9th (1989)	Karunanidhi III	P. C. Alexander	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
–		Vacant (President's rule)	N/A	30 January 1991	23 June 1991	144 days	Dissolved	N/A	–	N/A
5		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)	Bargur	24 June 1991	12 May 1996	4 years, 323 days	10th (1991)	Jayalalithaa I	Bhishma Narain Singh	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(2)		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)	Chepauk	13 May 1996[§]	13 May 2001	5 years	11th (1996)	Karunanidhi IV	Marri Chenna Reddy	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(5)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)	did not contest	14 May 2001[§]	21 September 2001[RES]	130 days	12th (2001)	Jayalalithaa II	Fathima Beevi	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
6		O. Panneerselvam (1951–)	Periyakulam	21 September 2001	2 March 2002[RES]	162 days		Panneerselvam I	C. Rangarajan
(5)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)	Andipatti	2 March 2002[§]	12 May 2006	4 years, 71 days		Jayalalithaa III	P. S. Ramamohan Rao
(2)		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)	Chepauk	13 May 2006[§]	15 May 2011	5 years, 2 days	13th (2006)	Karunanidhi V	Surjit Singh Barnala	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(5)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)	Srirangam	16 May 2011[§]	27 September 2014	3 years, 134 days	14th (2011)	Jayalalithaa IV		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(6)		O. Panneerselvam (1951–)	Bodinayakanur	28 September 2014[§]	23 May 2015[RES]	237 days		Panneerselvam II	Konijeti Rosaiah
(5)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)	Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar	23 May 2015[§]	22 May 2016	1 year, 196 days		Jayalalithaa V
				23 May 2016	5 December 2016[†]		15th (2016)	Jayalalithaa VI
(6)		O. Panneerselvam (1951–)	Bodinayakanur	6 December 2016[§]	15 February 2017[RES]	72 days		Panneerselvam III	C. Vidyasagar Rao
7		Edappadi K. Palaniswami (1954–)	Edappadi	16 February 2017	6 May 2021	4 years, 79 days		Palaniswami
8		M. K. Stalin (1953–)	Kolathur	7 May 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 189 days	16th (2021)	Stalin	Banwarilal Purohit	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

Timeline

Statistics

List of chief ministers by length of term

No.	Name	Party		Length of term
				Longest continuous term	Total years of chief ministership
1	M. Karunanidhi	DMK		6 years, 355 days	18 years, 360 days
2	J. Jayalalithaa	AIADMK		4 years, 323 days	14 years, 124 days
3	M. G. Ramachandran	AIADMK		7 years, 198 days	10 years, 65 days
4	K. Kamaraj	INC		9 years, 172 days	9 years, 172 days
5	Edappadi K. Palaniswami	AIADMK		4 years, 79 days	4 years, 79 days
6	M. K. Stalin	DMK		3 years, 189 days	3 years, 189 days
7	M. Bhakthavatsalam	INC		3 years, 154 days	3 years, 154 days
8	P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja	INC		2 years, 74 days	2 years, 74 days
9	C. Rajagopalachari	INC		2 years, 3 days	2 years, 3 days
10	C. N. Annadurai	DMK		1 year, 334 days	1 year, 334 days
11	O. Panneerselvam	AIADMK		237 days	1 year, 106 days
12	V. N. Janaki Ramachandran	AIADMK		23 days	23 days
Acting	V. R. Nedunchezhiyan	AIADMK/DMK		14 days	21 days

List by party

Political parties by total time-span of their member holding CMO (12 November 2024)

No.	Political party	Number of chief ministers	Total days of holding CMO
1	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	5 (+1 acting)	11004 days
2	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	3 (+1 acting)	8925 days
3	Indian National Congress	4	6247 days

Parties by total duration (in days) of holding Chief Minister's Office

2,500

5,000

7,500

10,000

12,500

15,000

AIADMK

DMK

INC

•   AIADMK
•   DMK
•   INC

See also

• History of Tamil Nadu
• Elections in Tamil Nadu
• List of governors of Tamil Nadu
• Chief Secretariat of Tamil Nadu
• Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
• List of current Indian chief ministers
• List of deputy chief ministers of Tamil Nadu
• List of speakers of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
• List of leaders of the house in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
• List of leaders of the opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly

Notes

1. This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.

References

1. "Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu". Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
2. Durga Das Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India. 1960. 20th Edition, 2011 Reprint. pp. 241, 245. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. ISBN 978-81-8038-559-9. Note: although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Tamil Nadu as well.
3. Archive.org — Government of Tamil Nadu — Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu since 1920
4. Government of Tamil Nadu — Assemblies — An Overview Archived 6 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
5. "Government of Tamil Nadu — Tamil Nadu Secretariat — Brief History".
6. "Legislative bodies of India - Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly". Archived from the original on 2 January 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2006.
7. "The Telegraph - Own Goal - Partition became inevitable once the Congress resigned in 1939".
8. "Pakistan - Toward Partition". www.country-data.com.
9. Mariappan, Julie (31 May 2013). "Tamil Nadu population rises to 7.2 crore in a decade". The Times of India. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
10. The ordinal number of the term being served by the person specified in the row in the corresponding period
11. "Introduction to Constitution of India". Ministry of Law and Justice of India. 29 July 2008. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2008.
12. Government of Tamil Nadu — The State Legislature — Origin and Evolution Archived 13 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
13. Historical Importance of Kanchipuram Archived 18 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine
14. Sundari, Dr. S. (2007). Migrant women and urban labour market: concepts and case studies. Deep & Deep Publications. p. 105. ISBN 9788176299664.

External links

• Official Website of the Office of the Chief Minister