1996 Indian general election in Tamil Nadu

Red = United Front (won all the seats)

The 1996 Indian general election polls in Tamil Nadu were held for 39 seats in the state. The result was a landslide for the newly formed alliance between Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) and its leader G. K. Moopanar, and the left parties who ended up getting all 39 seats. Post election, the newly formed United Front, ended up getting all the seats from Tamil Nadu, since DMK and TMC joined it, with outside support from Indian National Congress (INC). The results in Tamil Nadu is a reflection of the results nationally, where INC, ended up losing the most seats. This election was seen as redemption for Moopanar and TMC, since they left Congress, on grounds that they formed an alliance with AIADMK, even though J. Jayalalithaa, general secretary of AIADMK, was accused of many corruption charges. This led to a disastrous showing, for AIADMK and Congress in Tamil Nadu, since they lost all 39 seats from the last election, and TMC reaping the benefits by getting the most seats, in this election with 20 seats.

Voting and results

Alliance	Party	Popular Vote	Percentage	Swing	Seats won	Seat Change
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam}}"		United Front	Tamil Maanila Congress}}"		Tamil Maanila Congress	7,339,982	27.00%	*new party*
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam}}"		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	6,967,679	25.63%	2.94%	17	17
Communist Party of India}}"		Communist Party of India	632,813	2.33%	0.29%	2	2
	**Total**	**14,940,474**	**54.96%**	**30.23%**	**39**	**39**
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam}}"		AIADMK+	Indian National Congress}}"		Indian National Congress	4,965,364	18.26%	24.31%
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam}}"		All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	2,130,286	7.84%	10.26%	0	11
	**Total**	**7,095,650**	**26.10%**	**34.57%**	**0**	**39**
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam}}"		MDMK+	Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam}}"		Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	1,222,415	4.50%	*new party*
Communist Party of India (Marxist)}}"		Communist Party of India (Marxist)	632,813	2.33%	0.29%	0
Janata Dal}}"		Janata Dal	415,287	1.53%	1.38%	0
	**Total**	**2,270,515**	**8.36%**	**3.41%**	**0**
Pattali Makkal Katchi}}"		PMK+	All India Indira Congress (Tiwari)}}"		All India Indira Congress (Tiwari)	605,565	2.23%	*new party*
Pattali Makkal Katchi}}"		Pattali Makkal Katchi	552,118	2.03%	3.09%	0
	**Total**	**1,157,683**	**4.26%**	**0.86%**	**0**
Independent politician}}"		Independents	815,224	3.00%	1.57%	0
	Other Parties (14 parties)	909,395	3.32%	0.22%	0
**Total**	**27,188,941**	**100.00%**		**39**
Valid Votes	27,188,941	95.60%
Invalid Votes	1,249,944	4.40%
**Total Votes**	**28,438,885**	**100.00%**
Registered Voters/Turnout	42,488,022	66.93%	3.01%

Note: TMC(M) is a spliter-group of INC, who carried with them 6 incumbent MPs from previous 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 average % of votes the party received per constituency that they contested.

Sources: Election Commission of India