Indian general election in Tamil Nadu, 1998

Indian general election in Tamil Nadu, 1998
← 1996 February 1998 1999 →
39 (of 543) seats in the Lok Sabha
Registered4,55,77,788
Turnout2,64,10,702 (57.95%) Decrease8.98%
  First party Second party
 
Leader J. Jayalalithaa M. Karunanidhi
Party AIADMK DMK
Alliance NDA United Front (India)
Seats won 30 9
Seat change Increase30 Decrease30
Popular vote 1,21,69,812 1,09,37,809
Percentage 47.53% 42.72%
Swing Increase29.47% Decrease12.24%
1998 Election map (by constituencies)
Saffron = NDA and Red = UF

The 1998 Indian general election polls in Tamil Nadu were held for 39 seats in the state. New elections were called when Indian National Congress (INC) left the United Front government led by I. K. Gujral, after they refused to drop the regional Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party from the government after the DMK was linked by an investigative panel to Sri Lankan separatists blamed for the killing of Rajiv Gandhi.[1] The result was a landslide victory for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) winning 30 seats, which helped result in Atal Bihari Vajpayee being sworn in as the 16th Prime Minister of India. J. Jayalalithaa and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, broke off from their long alliance with Indian National Congress and formed an alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party, by joining the National Democratic Alliance. This state proved to be very important in determining the prime minister, since the 18 seats of AIADMK proved valuable for BJP to hold power. That was short-lived, since the AIADMK left the alliance in less than a year, and BJP lost the vote of confidence resulting in fresh elections being called.

Seat allotments

Source: Frontline [2]

United Front

No.
 Party Election Symbol Leader Seats
1. Tamil Maanila Congress G.K. Moopanar 20
2. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam M. Karunanidhi 17
3. Communist Party of India R. Nallakannu 2
  • Note: Even though CPI(M) 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, CPM 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 NDA gaining seats.[3]

National Democratic Alliance

Source: Indian Express[4]

No.
 Party Election Symbol Leader Seats
1. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam J. Jayalalithaa 23
2. Pattali Makkal Katchi Mango Dr. Ramdoss 5
3. Bharatiya Janata Party K.N. Laxmanan 5
4. Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Vaiko 5
5. Janata Party Subramanian Swamy 1
Unregistered party, whose candidate ran as an independent
6. Thamizhaga Rajiv Congress Vazhappady K. Ramamurthy 1

Congress alliance

No.
 Party Election Symbol Leader Seats
1. Indian National Congress K. V. Thangkabalu 35
2. MGR Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Su. Thirunavukkarasar 3
3. United Communist Party of India Tha. Pandian 1

Voting and results

Election map of results based on parties. Colours are based on the results table on the left
Election Map (Results reflected as %seats won by districts)
  AIADMK-BJP alliance won all the seats in this district

  AIADMK-BJP alliance won 67% of the seats (Vellore)

  DMK-TMC-CPI alliance won all the seats in this district
Alliance Party Popular Vote Percentage Swing Seats won Seat Change
National Democratic Alliance All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 6,628,928 25.89% Increase18.05% 18 Increase18
Pattali Makkal Katchi 1,548,976 6.05% Increase4.02% 4 Increase4
Bharatiya Janata Party 1,757,645 6.86% Increase3.93% 3 Increase3
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 1,602,504 6.26% Increase1.76% 3 Increase3
Janata Party 266,202 1.04% Increase0.28% 1 Increase1
Independents 365,557 1.43% 1
Total 12,169,812 47.53% Increase29.47% 30 Increase30
United Front Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 5,140,266 20.08% Decrease5.55% 5 Decrease12
Tamil Maanila Congress 5,169,183 20.19% Decrease6.81% 3 Decrease17
Communist Party of India 628,360 2.45% Increase0.12% 1 Decrease1
Total 10,937,809 42.72% Decrease12.24% 9 Decrease30
INC+ Indian National Congress 1,223,102 4.78% Decrease13.48% 0 Steady
MGR Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 278,324 1.09% new party 0 new party
United Communist Party of India 10,018 0.04% new party 0 new party
Total 1,511,444 5.91% Decrease12.35% 0 Steady
Independents 265,029 1.03% Decrease1.97% 0 Steady
Other Parties (10 parties) 719,704 2.81% Decrease2.91% 0 Steady
Total 25,603,798 100.00% Steady 39 Steady
Valid Votes 25,603,798 96.94%
Invalid Votes 806,904 3.06%
Total Votes 26,410,702 100.00%
Reigstered Voters/Turnout 45,577,788 57.95% Decrease8.98%

†: Seat change represents seats won in terms of the current alliances, which is considerably different from the last election.
‡: Vote % reflects the percentage of votes the party received compared to the entire electorate in Tamil Nadu 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[5]

List of Elected MPs

Sl.No. Constituency Winner Party Alliance Margin Runner-up Party
1 Chennai North C. Kuppusami DMK UF 69,093 R. T. Sabapathy Mohan MDMK
2 Chennai Central Murasoli Maranc DMK UF 71,727 D. Jayakumar AIADMK
3 Chennai South T. R. Baaluc DMK UF 20,014 Jana Krishnamurthi BJP
4 Sriperumbudur K. Venugopal AIADMK NDA 23,795 T. Nagarathinam DMK
5 Chengalpattu Kanchi Panneerselvam AIADMK NDA 22,916 K. Parasuraman DMK
6 Arakkonam C. Gopal AIADMK NDA 49,488 A. M. Velu TMC(M)
7 Vellore N. T. Shanmugam PMK NDA 26,405 T. A. Mohammad Saqhy DMK
8 Tiruppattur D. Venugopalc DMK UF 274 S. Krishnamoorthy AIADMK
9 Vandavasi M. Durai PMK NDA 65,075 L. Balaraman TMC(M)
10 Tindivanam N. Ramachandran Gingee MDMK NDA 31,453 G. Venkataraman DMK
11 Cuddalore M. C. Dhamodaran AIADMK NDA 27,129 P. R. S. Venkatesan TMC(M)
12 Chidambaram R. Elumalai PMK NDA 7,955 V. Ganesan DMK
13 Dharmapuri K. Pary Mohan PMK NDA 99,427 P. Theertharaman TMC(M)
14 Krishnagiri K. P. Munisamy AIADMK NDA 49,349 D. R. Rajaram Naidu TMC(M)
15 Rasipuram V. Saroja AIADMK NDA 54,377 K. Kandasamy TMC(M)
16 Salem Vazhappady K. Ramamurthy Independent NDA 135,880 R. Devadass TMC(M)
17 Tiruchengode Edappadi K. Palaniswami AIADMK NDA 104,809 K. P. Ramalingam DMK
18 Nilgiris M. Master Mathan BJP NDA 60,385 S. R. Balasubramanian TMC(M)
19 Gobichettipalayam V. K. Chinnasamy AIADMK NDA 114,642 N. Ramasamy DMK
20 Coimbatore C. P. Radhakrishnan BJP NDA 144,676 K. R. Subbian DMK
21 Pollachi M. Thiyagarajan AIADMK NDA 95,401 Kovai Thangam TMC(M)
22 Palani A. Ganeshamurthi MDMK NDA 27,437 S. K. Kaarvendhan TMC(M)
23 Dindigul Dindigul C. Sreenivasan AIADMK NDA 15,199 N. S. V. Chithan TMC(M)
24 Madurai Subramanian Swamy JP NDA 20,897 A. G. S. Rambabu TMC(M)
25 Periyakulam R. Muthiah AIADMK NDA 70,580 R. Gandhimathy DMK
26 Karur M. Thambidurai AIADMK NDA 43,673 K. Natrayan TMC(M)
27 Tiruchirappalli Rangarajan Kumaramangalam BJP NDA 11,455 L. Adaikalaraj TMC(M)
28 Perambalur Rajarethinam AIADMK NDA 60,436 A. Raja DMK
29 Mayiladuturai K. Krishnamoorthy TMC(M) UF 42,456 P. D. Arulmozhi PMK
30 Nagapattinam M. Selvarasu CPI UF 131,303 K. Gopal AIADMK
31 Thanjavur S. S. Palanimanickamc DMK UF 48,204 L. Ganesan MDMK
32 Pudukkottai Raja Paramasivam AIADMK NDA 30,520 P. N. Siva DMK
33 Sivaganga P. Chidambaramc TMC(M) UF 59,141 K. Kalimuthu AIADMK
34 Ramanathapuram V. Sathiamoorthy AIADMK NDA 24,092 S. P. Udayappan TMC(M)
35 Sivakasi Vaiko MDMK NDA 134,923 V. Alagirisamy CPI
36 Tirunelveli M. R. Kadambur Janarthanan AIADMK NDA 6,904 R. Sarath Kumar DMK
37 Tenkasi S. Murugesan AIADMK NDA 97,267 M. Arunachalam TMC(M)
38 Tiruchendur Ramarajan AIADMK NDA 46,855 R. Dhanushkodi Adithan TMC(M)
39 Nagercoil N. Dennisc TMC(M) UF 29,185 Pon. Radhakrishnan BJP

c-indicates sitting/incumbent M.P. from previous Lok Sabha (1996–1998)

Post-election Union Council of Ministers from Tamil Nadu

Source: The Tribune[6][7]

Cabinet Ministers

Minister Party Lok Sabha Constituency/Rajya Sabha Portfolios
Rangarajan Kumaramangalam BJP Tiruchirappalli Minister of Power and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs
M. Thambidurai AIADMK Karur Minister of Law, Justice, and Company Affairs
R. Muthiah AIADMK Periyakulam Minister of Surface Transport
Vazhappady Ramamurthy TRC Salem Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas
  • Note: R. Muthiah resigned in just 20 days in office, due to his assets coming into question by the high court in Madras.[8] In a year, cabinet ministers M. Thambidurai resigned along with M.R. Janarthanam, who was the replacement of R. Muthiah, as part of AIADMK's withdrawal from NDA, to start up fresh elections in 1999. Vazhappady Ramamurthy also refused to quit his cabinet ministership, and quit his relationship with AIADMK while keeping its relationship with NDA.[6]

Ministers of State (Independent charge)

Minister Party Lok Sabha Constituency/Rajya Sabha Portfolios
Dalit Elumalai PMK Chidambaram Minister of Health and Family Welfare

Ministers of State

Minister Party Lok Sabha Constituency/Rajya Sabha Portfolios
M. R. Kadambur Janarthanan AIADMK Tirunelveli Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension
R. K. Kumar AIADMK Rajya Sabha (Tamil Nadu) Minister of Finance

See also

Bibliography

  1. ^ "Government Falls, Indian Premier Quits; Coalition Splits Amid Gandhi Assassination Debate - The Washington Post". 3 November 2012. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012.
  2. ^ Of Polls and Prediction
  3. ^ "Piqued CPM to stay away from Front in TN".
  4. ^ "Jaya grabs the lions share in TN".
  5. ^ "ECI: Statistical Report 1998" (PDF). Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  6. ^ a b "Rediff On The NeT: Elections '98: Finance for Sinha, defence for Fernandes". www.rediff.com.
  7. ^ "Rediff On The NeT Elections '98: Vajpayee shows a generous hand to Jayalalitha in new portfolio allocation". www.rediff.com.
  8. ^ "Rediff On The NeT: Union surface transport minister quits". www.rediff.com.

External links