List of chief ministers of Tamil Nadu

The Madras Presidency, headquartered in Fort St. George, India, was a province of British 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 Madraspatnam and 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 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 not representative of the masses.

With the enactment of Government of India Act 1919, the first legislature was formed in 1920 after general elections.[4] 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 with power to decide on bills passed by the assembly[5]

In 1939, the British government declared India's entrance into World War II without consulting provincial governments. The Indian National Congress protested by asking all its elected representatives to resign from the governments.[6] Congress came back to power in 1946 after new provincial elections.[7]

The state of Tamil Nadu in India has an electorate of more than 70 million people (7 crores)[8]

Madras Presidency in 1909 showing in southern portion of India

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

S.No	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Political Party[lower-alpha 1]		Elected Constituency	Term of office[9]			Appointed by	Legislative Council Election
1		A. Subbarayalu Reddiar (1855–1921)		South Indian Liberal Federation	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	17 December 1920	11 July 1921[RES]	1st (206 days)	Frederic Thesiger	1st
2		Panaganti Ramarayaningar (1866–1928)		South Indian Liberal Federation	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	11 July 1921	11 September 1923	1st (792 days)	Rufus Isaacs
				South Indian Liberal Federation	Head of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	19 November 1923	3 December 1926	2nd (1,111 days)		2nd
3		P. Subbarayan (1889–1962)		Unaffiliated	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	4 December 1926	27 October 1930	1st (1,423 days)	Edward Wood	3rd
4		B. Munuswamy Naidu (1885–1935)		South Indian Liberal Federation	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	27 October 1930	4 November 1932[RES]	1st (740 days)	Edward Wood	4th
5		Ramakrishna Ranga Rao (1901–1978)		South Indian Liberal Federation	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	5 November 1932	5 November 1934	1st (730 days)	Freeman Freeman-Thomas
				South Indian Liberal Federation	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	5 November 1934	4 April 1936[RES]	2nd (516 days)		5th
6		P. T. Rajan (1892–1974)		South Indian Liberal Federation	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	4 April 1936	24 August 1936[RES]	1st (142 days)
(5)		Ramakrishna Ranga Rao (1901–1978)		South Indian Liberal Federation	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	24 August 1936	1 April 1937	3rd (220 days)	Victor Hope
7		Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu (1875–1942)		Unaffiliated[10][11][12][13]	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	1 April 1937	14 July 1937[RES]	1st (104 days)		1st
8		C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972)		Indian National Congress	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	14 July 1937	29 October 1939[RES]	1st (837 days)
-		Governor's Rule[14]		N/A		29 October 1939	30 April 1946	(2,375 days)
9		T. Prakasam (1872–1957)		Indian National Congress	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	30 April 1946	23 March 1947[RES]	1st (327 days)	Archibald Wavell	2nd
10		Omanthur P. Ramaswamy Reddiar (1895–1970)		Indian National Congress	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	23 March 1947	6 April 1949[RES]	1st (745 days)	Archibald Nye
11		P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja (1898–1957)		Indian National Congress	Leader of Madras Presidency Legislative Council	6 April 1949	26 January 1950	1st (295 days)	Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji

Key

• ^† Assassinated or died in office
• ^RES Resigned

Timeline

Map of southern India showing the Madras State in yellow before the reorganisation of 1956

Map of India showing the Madras State after the reorganisation of 1956

Madras State, precursor to the present day state of Tamil Nadu, was created after India became a republic on 26 January 1950.[15] 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.[16]

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 were carved out of Madras state. Under the implementation of the Andhra Pradesh and Madras Alteration of Boundaries Act, 1959, with effect from 1 April 1960, Tirutani 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.[4][17]

S.No	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Political Party[lower-alpha 1]		Elected Constituency	Term of office[9]			Appointed by	Legislative Assembly Election
1		P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja (1898–1957)		Indian National Congress	Leader of Madras State Legislative Council	27 January 1950	9 April 1952	1st (805 days)	Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji	2nd
2		C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972)		Indian National Congress	Leader of Madras State Legislative Council	10 April 1952	13 April 1954[RES]	2nd (733 days)	Sri Prakasa	1st
3		K. Kamaraj (1903–1975)		Indian National Congress	Gudiyatham, Veeloor	13 April 1954	31 March 1957	1st (1,083 days)	Sri Prakasa
					Sattur, Virudhunagar	13 April 1957	1 March 1962	2nd (1,783 days)	A. J. John	2nd
						15 March 1962	2 October 1963[RES]	3rd (566 days)	Bishnuram Medhi	3rd
4		M. Bhakthavatsalam (1897–1987)		Indian National Congress	Thiruperumputhoor, Kancheepuram	2 October 1963	28 February 1967	1st (1245 days)	Bishnuram Medhi
5		C. N. Annadurai (1909–1969)		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Leader of Madras State Legislative Council	6 March 1967	13 January 1969	1st (680 days)	Sardar Ujjal Singh	4th

Timeline

Map of Tamil Nadu showing districts after some bifurcation of districts in the state

Map of India showing Tamil Nadu after some bifurcation of states in the country

Madras State was renamed as Tamil Nadu (Tamil for Tamil Country) on 14 January 1969.[15] The legislative assembly adopted a resolution on 14 May 1986, to abolish the legislative council. Thereafter, the legislative council was abolished through an act of Parliament named the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council (Abolition) Act, 1986[18] with effect from 1 November 1986. The state legislature is unicameral, and consists of 235 members including one nominated member.[5]

The chief minister commands most of the executive powers while the governor has a largely ceremonial role. The chief minister of Tamil Nadu, like other chief ministers of India, is elected by legislators of the political party or the coalition which commands a simple majority in the legislative assembly. The tenure of the chief minister extends as long as he or she enjoys the confidence of the assembly. The incumbent shall vacate the office in the event of a successful motion of no confidence. Also, the President of India, acting under the recommendations of the cabinet of ministers of the Government of India, can dismiss an elected government using certain provisions of Article 356 of the Constitution of India. In 1976, M. Karunanidhi's government was dismissed and president's rule was imposed on the grounds of corruption.[19] If a vacancy is caused to the office of the chief minister due to death, demitting, or dismissal, the governor can invite another person to form the government and request him or her to move a confidence-seeking motion in the assembly. In the event of no one enjoying majority support, the assembly is either dissolved or put in suspended animation and the state comes under president's rule or a caretaker government until fresh elections are held for the assembly. The incumbent shall be disqualified if convicted of a criminal offence with a jail sentence of two years or more. In 2014, J. Jayalalithaa lost her post due to a special court sentencing her to four years of prison term in the disproportionate assets case.[20]

S.No	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Political Party[lower-alpha 1]		Elected Constituency	Term of office[9]			Appointed by	Legislative Assembly Election
1		C. N. Annadurai (1909–1969)		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Leader of Tamil Nadu Legislative Council	14 January 1969	3 February 1969[†][21]	1st (20 days)	Sardar Ujjal Singh	4th
-		V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (1920–2000)		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Thiruvallikkeni, Chennai	4 February 1969	9 February 1969	1st (5 days)
2		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Saithaappettai, Chennai	10 February 1969	5 January 1971	1st (694 days)
*		President's rule[15]		N/A	N/A	6 January 1971	14 March 1971	1st (68 days)	Varahagiri Venkata Giri
(2)		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Saithaappettai, Chennai	15 March 1971	31 January 1976	2nd (1783 days)	Sardar Ujjal Singh	5th
*		President's rule[15]		N/A	N/A	1 February 1976	29 June 1977	2nd (514 days)	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
3		M. G. Ramachandran (1917–1987)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Aruppukottai, Virudhunagar	30 June 1977	17 February 1980	1st (962 days)	Prabhudas Patwari	6th
*		President's rule[15]		N/A	N/A	18 February 1980	8 June 1980	3rd (111 days)	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
(3)		M. G. Ramachandran (1917–1987)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Mathurai Merku, Mathurai	9 June 1980	15 November 1984	2nd (1620 days)	Prabhudas Patwari	7th
-		V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (1920–2000)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Aathoor, Thindukkal	16 November 1984	9 February 1985	2nd (85 days)	Sundar Lal Khurana	8th
(3)		M. G. Ramachandran (1917–1987)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Aandippatti, Theni	10 February 1985	24 December 1987[†]	3rd (1047 days)
-		V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (1920–2000)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Aathoor, Thindukkal	25 December 1987	6 January 1988	3rd (12 days)
4		V. N. Janaki Ramachandran (1923–1996)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Not Contested	7 January 1988	30 January 1988	1st (23 days)
*		President's rule[15]		N/A	N/A	31 January 1988	26 January 1989	4th (361 days)	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
(2)		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Harbour, Chennai	27 January 1989	30 January 1991	3rd (733 days)	P. C. Alexander	9th
*		President's rule[15]		N/A	N/A	31 January 1991	23 June 1991	5th (143 days)	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
5		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Bargur, Krishnagiri and Kaangayam, Tiruppur	24 June 1991	12 May 1996	1st (1784 days)	Bhishma Narain Singh	10th
(2)		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Chepaukkam, Chennai	13 May 1996	13 May 2001	4th (1826 days)	Marri Chenna Reddy	11th
(5)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Did not contest, all 4 nominations rejected due to TANSI case	14 May 2001	21 September 2001	2nd (130 days)[22]	Fathima Beevi	12th
6		O. Panneerselvam (1951–)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Periyakulam, Theni	22 September 2001	1 March 2002[RES]	1st (160 days)	C. Rangarajan
(5)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Aandippatti, Theni	2 March 2002	12 May 2006	3rd (1532 days)[22]	P. S. Ramamohan Rao
(2)		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Chepaukkam, Chennai	13 May 2006	15 May 2011[23]	5th[24] (1828 days)	Surjit Singh Barnala	13th
(5)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Thiruvarangam, Thiruchirappalli	16 May 2011	27 September 2014[20]	4th[25] (1230 days)		14th
*	Vacant			N/A		28 September 2014		1 day
(6)		O. Panneerselvam (1951–)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Bodinayakkanur, Theni	29 September 2014[26]	22 May 2015[RES][27]	2nd (235 days)	Konijeti Rosaiah
(5)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar, Chennai	23 May 2015[28]	22 May 2016	5th (366 days)
						23 May 2016[29]	5 December 2016[†]	6th (196 days)		15th
(6)		O. Panneerselvam (1951–)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Bodinayakkanur, Theni	6 December 2016[30]	15 February 2017[RES][31]	3rd (71 days)	C. Vidyasagar Rao
7		Edappadi K. Palaniswami (1954–)		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Edappadi, Salem	16 February 2017[32]	Incumbent	1st (1226 days)

Timeline

Following is the summary of hold of Chief Minister's office by members of Indian political parties. The data to some extent may not reflect latest accurate set of informations as the length of term for ruling party will continue to change everyday and may be updated periodically only. The displayed data is as of 26 June 2020.

As of 26 June 2020, there is only one living former Chief minister of Tamil Nadu

Name	Portrait	Term of office	Date of birth
O. Panneerselvam		22 September 2001 – 1 March 2002, 29 September 2014 – 22 May 2015, 6 December 2016 – 15 February 2017 (466 days)	(1951-01-14) 14 January 1951

The most recent death of a former Chief Minister was that of M. Karunanidhi on 7 August 2018, aged 94.

• M. G. Ramachandran was the chief minister with the longest tenure ignoring an intervening president's rule from 17 February 1980 to 9 June 1980. His terms lasted for 10 years, 5 months and 25 days from 30 June 1977 until his death on 24 December 1987.

• K. Kamaraj was the chief minister with the longest tenure without intervening president's rule. His terms lasted from 13 April 1954 to 2 October 1963, i.e., 9 years, 5 months and 19 days.

• C. Rajagopalachari became the first chief minister in India to receive the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna.

• C. Rajagopalachari was the oldest chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

• C. Rajagopalachari (1954), K. Kamaraj (1976) and M. G. Ramachandran (1988) are the chief ministers from the state of Tamil Nadu to receive Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the Republic of India.

• C. N. Annadurai became the first chief minister of Tamil Nadu to die in office on 3 February 1969.

• M. G. Ramachandran became the first actor-turned chief minister in India.

• V. N. Janaki Ramachandran became the first woman chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

• V. N. Janaki Ramachandran became the first actress-turned chief minister in India.

• The shortest period is by V. N. Janaki Ramachandran who held office only for 23 days.

• J. Jayalalithaa became the first woman leader of opposition in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

• J. Jayalalithaa became the first woman chief minister of Tamil Nadu by winning legislative assembly election in 1991.

• J. Jayalalithaa was the youngest chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

• J. Jayalalithaa became the first actress-turned chief minister in India by winning legislative assembly election.

• J. Jayalalithaa holds a record by being sworn as chief minister six times, followed by Karunanidhi who sworn five times.

• J. Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi were the chief ministers from the state of Tamil Nadu protected with Z+ Security.

• On 21 September 2001, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the appointment of J. Jayalalithaa as chief minister on 14 May 2001 was invalid, with retrospective effect. Therefore, technically, decisions of her cabinet during the period May–September 2001 in effect became legal fiction.

• J. Jayalalithaa became the first incumbent chief minister to lose her post in a graft case when a special court sentenced her to four years of prison term on 27 September 2014.[20] The sentence was subsequently overturned by the Karnataka High Court which acquitted J. Jayalalithaa of all charges and that allowed her to return to the post for a fourth term.

• M. Karunanidhi had been in the office as chief minister for 6,863 days (around 18 years) in multiple tenures. Also was the only chief minister holding posts at different occasions spanning six decades starting from 1960s (from 1969), 1970s (until 1976), 1980s (from 1989), 1990s (until 1991 and again from 1996), 2000s (until 2001 and again from 2006) and 2010s (up to 2011).

• J. Jayalalithaa became the first woman chief minister of Tamil Nadu to win the legislative assembly election consecutively 2 times.

• J. Jayalalithaa became the first woman chief minister in India to die in office on 5 December 2016. She was the seventeenth chief minister to die in office in India and the third in Tamil Nadu, after C. N. Annadurai and M. G. Ramachandran.

• J. Jayalalithaa became the longest served woman chief minister of Tamil Nadu in multiple tenures.

• K. Kamaraj was the first and only chief minister in Tamil Nadu to get honored posthumously by changing the name of suburban railway station after him that is Maraimalai Nagar railway station renamed as Maraimalai Nagar Kamarajar Railway Station.

• M. G. Ramachandran was the first and only chief minister in Tamil Nadu to get honored posthumously by changing the name of iconic railway station after him that is Chennai Central railway station renamed as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station.

• C. Rajagopalachari was the only former chief minister of Tamil Nadu to have his portrait installed posthumously in the central hall of the Parliament of India

• K. Kamaraj, C. N. Annadurai and M. G. Ramachandran were the former chief ministers of Tamil Nadu to have their life-size statue unveiled posthumously in the Parliament of India.

• C. Rajagopalachari, K. Kamaraj, C. N. Annadurai, M. G. Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa were the former chief ministers of Tamil Nadu to have their portraits installed posthumously in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

• C. N. Annadurai (1968), M. Karunanidhi (1971), M. G. Ramachandran (1974), J. Jayalalithaa (1991) and Edappadi K. Palaniswami (2019) were the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu received Honorary Doctorate from various universities of Tamil Nadu.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chief ministers of Tamil Nadu.

• Elections in Tamil Nadu
• History of Tamil Nadu
• List of current Indian chief ministers
• List of Governors of Tamil Nadu
• List of Speakers of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly