Indian general election in Tamil Nadu, 2009

13 May 2009 (5A phase)
39 seats
Turnout	73.03%
First party Second party   Leader M. Karunanidhi J. Jayalalithaa Party DMK AIADMK Alliance UPA Third Front Seats won 27 12 Seat change 1 12 Popular vote 12,929,043 11,544,419 Percentage 42.54% 37.99% Swing 8.96% 32.09%
2009 Election map (by constituencies) Green = UPA and Red = Third Front

The 2009 Indian general election polls in Tamil Nadu was held for 39 seats in the state. There was a radical change in the alliances in this election compared to the last election, reminiscent of the 1999 election in Tamil Nadu. In this election the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) decided to stay with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), but the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK (breakaway)), and the left parties decided to ally itself with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the newly formed Third Front named United National Progressive Alliance.

After counting on 16 May 2009, the results to everyone surprise, showed the DMK and its allies, Indian National Congress and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, winning in a landslide victory, securing 27 out of 39 seats. DMK and its allies were also able to hold on to Pondicherry, which has one seat. Many expected, before the election, through opinion polling and voters on the ground, that AIADMK, and its allies, who were formerly with the UPA (PMK, MDMK, Left Front) in 2004, would win in a landslide, but due to the late surge of support for the DMK, and the nationwide support of the UPA government, the DMK and its allies, ended up winning the most seats, and this victory, proved crucial, for Congress to form the government on its own, without the Left Front.

M.K. Azhagiri, son of DMK leader Karunanidhi, ran in the Madurai, and won his debut run in national politics. Out of the 24 incumbents from the 2004 Election, who ran again in this election, only 10 incumbents won, with 7 of the members from the DMK and 3 of the members from the Indian National Congress (INC).

Even though it was a big victory for DMK and allies, Congress fared poorly in the state compared to DMK, where cabinet minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, who has been in power in Mayiladuturai constituency for 10 years, was defeated and P. Chidambaram, who has been in power in Sivaganga constituency, for past 25 years, lost according to the first counting, and won during the recount, barely winning his constituency.

Even though the opposition party failed to get more seats than the DMK and its allies, AIADMK, improved its tally to 9 seats, from winning no seats in 2004. But the opposition allies (PMK, MDMK and Left Parties), significantly lost seats compared to the 2004 election, when they allied with DMK. PMK especially lost all 6 of its seats that it got in the last Lok Sabha, coming out as the biggest loser of this election in Tamil Nadu.

Seat allotments

Election map of seat allotments based on parties contesting under the UPA alliance. Colours are based on the UPA-front table on the left

United Progressive Alliance

No.	Party		Election Symbol	Leader	Seats
1.		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		M. Karunanidhi	21
2.		Indian National Congress		K. V. Thangkabalu	15
3.		Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi		Thol. Thirumavalavan	2
4.		Indian Union Muslim League		K.M.Kadhar Mohideen	1

Third Front

Election map of seat allotments based on parties contesting under the Third Front alliance. Colours are based on the TF-front table on the left

No.	Party		Election Symbol	Leader	Seats
1.		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		J. Jayalalithaa	23
2.		Pattali Makkal Katchi		Dr. Ramdoss	6
3.		Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		Vaiko	4
4.		Communist Party of India (Marxist)		N. Varadarajan	3
5.		Communist Party of India		Tha. Pandian	3

Voting and results

Results by Pre-Poll Alliance

Election map of results based on parties. Colours are based on the results table on the left

Summary of the 2009 May Lok Sabha election results in the state of Tamil Nadu

Alliance/Party		Seats won	Change†	Popular Vote	Vote %	Adj. %‡
UPA		27	+1	12,929,043	42.5%
DMK		18	+2	7,625,397	25.1%	44.9%
INC		8	-2	4,567,799	15.0%	38.9%
VCK		1	+1	735,847	2.4%	44.2%
TF		12	-1	11,544,419	38.0%
AIADMK		9	+9	6,953,591	22.9%	39.1%
MDMK		1	-3	1,112,908	3.7%	36.5%
CPI		1	-1	864,572	2.8%	39.9%
CPI(M)		1	-1	668,729	2.2%	28.1%
PMK		0	-5	1,944,619	6.4%	39.0%
Others		0	–	6,135,920	20.2%
DMDK		0	–	3,126,117	10.3%	10.3%
BJP		0	–	711,790	2.3%	5.3%
IND		0	–
Total		39	–	30,390,998	100%	–

†: 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 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^[1]

List of elected MPs

Source: Election Commission of India^[1]
24 Incumbents (7 (DMK), 8 (INC), 5 (PMK), 1 (MDMK), 1 (CPM) from the 2004 Lok Sabha election ran in this election, either for the same constituency, or a different constituency. Since the UPA and the Left Front swept the last election, all of the incumbents were either from UPA or Left Front. 15 of them are now currently running for the UPA, while the other 7 candidates, from PMK, MDMK and CPM, are running for the Third Front.

* – represents incumbents in previous Lok Sabha (2004–2009) from Tamil Nadu.
a – Defeated candidate and party represents candidate and party that got the second most votes.

Post-election Union Council of Ministers from Tamil Nadu

See also

• Elections in Tamil Nadu

References

External links

• Official Website of Election Commission of India
• Election statistics provided by ECI