The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam returned to power in Tamil Nadu in a landslide, governing in alliance with the Indian National Congress — a group of parties that team up to fight an election together and share power afterward.

It won 164 seats, 46 clear of a majority.

That was 70.1% of the assembly on 44.4% of the vote.

The central government dismissed Karunanidhi's DMK ministry under Article 356 on 30 January, citing law-and-order concerns and alleged links to the LTTE, and imposed President's Rule the next day, clearing the way for a fresh election that June.¹

On 21 May, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed by an LTTE suicide bomber at a campaign meeting in Sriperumbudur, where he had gone to campaign for Congress candidate Margatham Chandrasekar.²

The Election Commission postponed the remaining phases of the national vote the next morning; Tamil Nadu's own polling, due on 26 May, moved to 15 June.³

AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa contested from Bargur and Kangayam against DMK's Sugavanam and Rajkumar Mandradiar; she retained Bargur and vacated Kangayam.⁴

This was the first election since ADK's two rival factions, which split after Ramachandran's death, reunited under Jayalalithaa's leadership.⁵

Statewide, 113 of the 206 seats that changed hands swung from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to the ADK.

Turnout, the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot, fell -6.4 pp from the previous election, to 61.8%.

The closest race was at Harbour, Tamil Nadu, decided by 890 votes.

Sendamangalam, Tamil Nadu was the most lopsided contest, won by 58.1% of the vote.

Vedaranyam, Tamil Nadu recorded the highest turnout of any seat, at 80.5%.

Villivakkam, Tamil Nadu was the largest constituency by registered voters, with 4,28,210 people on the rolls.

The ADK traces back to a 1972 split in DMK, when Ramachandran was expelled and founded a new party that was renamed in 1976.⁶