The tenth legislative assembly election of Tamil Nadu was held on 15 June 1991, to elect representatives from the 234 constituencies in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) – Indian National Congress (INC) alliance won the elections in a landslide manner and AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa became the chief minister on 24 June 1991. This was her first term in office. The united strength of AIADMK after the merger of J. Jayalalithaa, V. N. Janaki Ramachandran and R.M Veerappan faction, who was made Joint General Secretary of AIADMK, the alliance with the Congress, and the wave of public sympathy in the wake of Rajiv Gandhi assassination combined to produce a massive victory for the AIADMK. The DMK could only win 2 seats. This was the worst performance of the DMK since it entered electoral politics in the 1957 Madras State Legislative Assembly elections.
Background
President's rule
On 30 January 1991, the DMK government which had come to power after winning the 1989 assembly election, was dismissed by the Indian Prime minister Chandra Shekhar using Article 356 of the Indian Constitution. President's rule was imposed on Tamil Nadu from 31 January. The reason cited for the dismissal was the deterioration of law and order in the state. The dismissal followed pressure on the Chandra Shekhar government by the Congress and AIADMK to dismiss the DMK government. The Chandra Shekhar government fell in March 1991 after the Congress withdrew its outside support. Fresh elections for both the Indian parliament and Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly were scheduled for June 1991.
Unification of AIADMK
The AIADMK which had contested and lost the 1989 elections as two different factions reunited under the leadership of Jayalalithaa in February 1989. The V. N. Janaki Ramachandran faction merged with the Jayalalithaa faction to form a single united party and Janaki retired from politics. The reunited party regained the popular "Two Leaves" symbol of the AIADMK. (The Election Commission of India had frozen the symbol for the 1989 elections due to the split). The united AIADMK was able to prove its strength immediately by winning the elections held for two constituencies -Marungapuri and Madurai East on 11 March 1989. (for these two constituencies elections had been postponed earlier due to technical reasons).The AIADMK then allied with the Congress for the 1989 Parliamentary elections. The AIADMK-Congress alliance won 38 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in that election routing the DMK-Janata Dal led National Front.
The 1991 elections was the first state elections contested by the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), S. Ramadoss, the leader of the Vanniyar caste organisation which demanded proportional reservation in education and employment based on population ratio of each community – the Vanniyar Sangam converted into a political party and entered electoral politics with the 1989 parliamentary elections. The emergence of PMK cut into the DMK's political base in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu.
In 1991, the Thayaga Marumalarchi Kazhagam (TMK) was formed by the actor-politician Vijaya T. Rajendar after he split from the DMK. Later, some of the second rung leaders of the ADMK including Su. Thirunavukkarasar, K. K. S. S. R. Ramachandran, S. D. Ugamchand, V. Karuppasamy Pandian split from the party. For the 1991 elections they formed a pact with T. Rajendar and contested as TMK candidates.
Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi
By mid-April 1991, the explosive device intended for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and others had been prepared. The first dry run was reportedly conducted on 18 April 1991 at Marina Beach, during a massive election rally where Rajiv and his Ally AIADMK General Secretary J. Jayalalithaa shared the stage and delivered campaign speeches. However, the conspirators did not attempt to approach the two leaders closely during this event.
A second dry run took place at Thiruvallur in Arakkonam, 40 km away from Madras on 12 May 1991 during a public campaign meeting attended by the National Front leaders V. P. Singh and DMK President M. Karunanidhi. During this event, the operative later identified as Dhanu was able to approach Singh and touch his feet in a customary gesture of respect, a method that was subsequently used in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi nine days later. On May 20, AIADMK General Secretary Jayalalithaa distributed campaign funds to her party candidates at her Poes Garden residence in Madras, a day before she was scheduled to campaign in Bodinayakkanur on May 21.
On 21 May 1991, leader of the Indian National Congress and its prime ministerial candidate for the 1991 general elections was assassinated by a LTTE suicide bomber. The assassination took place at a campaign meeting at Sriperumpudur where he was campaigning for the Congress candidate Maragatham Chandrasekar. The first phase of polling was completed in other states on 20 May 1991 (When Rajiv cast his vote at New Delhi), with Tamil Nadu scheduled to vote in the final phase on 26 May. Following the assassination, polling in Tamil Nadu was postponed to 15 June 1991.
Coalitions
The two main political formations in this election were the DMK and AIADMK led fronts. The DMK coalition comprised the Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), Janata Dal (JD) and Thayaga Marumalarchi Kazhagam (TMK). The AIADMK front had only two major parties – itself and the Congress. The AIADMK also backed the ICS (SCS) candidate Sanjay Ramasamy in the Virudhunagar constituency. Several smaller parties like the PMK contested the elections alone.
Opinion poll trends
During the 1991 election, India Today conducted a poll with MARG, predicting a win for the Jayalalithaa led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Tharasu Weekly initially reported a pro-DMK sentiment among voters, attributing it to a sympathy wave following the dismissal of its government in January 1991. However, after the Rajiv assassination, it conducted a fresh survey and reported a complete shift to an anti-DMK wave among the electorate. Following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the AIADMK–Congress alliance went on to secure a landslide victory, exceeding the poll's projections.
Voting and results
The polling for the state assembly elections were held simultaneously with the polling for the 1991 Parliamentary elections on 15 June 1991. The voter turnout was 63.92%.
Results by Pre-Poll Alliance
†: ICS(SCS) contested in 13 different constituencies, but only the one contested by Sanjay Ramaswamy was endorsed by AIADMK.‡: Vote % reflects the percentage of votes the party received compared to the entire electorate that voted in this election. Adjusted (Adj.) Vote %, reflects the % of votes the party received per constituency that they contested.
Sources: Election Commission of India
Analysis
The AIADMK coalition won a massive victory in this election capturing 225 of 234 seats. The DMK coalition was routed with only 7 victories. DMK itself could win only 2 seats including that of its leader M. Karunanidhi. Though Karunanidhi won from the Harbour constituency, he resigned his seat immediately. The victory of AIADMK-Congress has been attributed mainly to the sympathy wave following the Rajiv Gandhi assassination. Other factors which helped their victory were the consolidation of the AIADMK votes under the unified AIADMK party, successful projection by Jayalalithaa as the true political heir to M. G. Ramachandran (M.G.R), successful portrayal of DMK as anti-woman (by playing up the events in the Assembly on 25 March 1989) and the PMK cutting into the DMK's vote bank in the northern districts. This election saw the first electoral success of the PMK, when its candidate Panruti Ramachandran was elected from the Panruti constituency.