The Sixteenth Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Election was held on 6 April 2021, to elect representatives from the 234 constituencies in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won the election, ending the decade-long reign of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The DMK's leader M. K. Stalin became the eighth Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and the 12th Chief Minister since the 1956 reorganization. He replaced Edappadi K. Palaniswami of the AIADMK.

Quick Facts All 234 elected seats in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly 118 seats needed for a majority, Turnout ...

2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Election

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All 234 elected seats in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly 118 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	73.63% ( 1.18%)[1]
Majority party Minority party   Leader M. K. Stalin Edappadi K. Palaniswami Party DMK AIADMK Alliance SPA[2] NDA[3] Leader since 2017 2017 Leader's seat Kolathur Edappadi Last election 89 136 Seats won 133 66 Seat change 44 70 Popular vote 17,430,179 15,391,055 Percentage 37.70% 33.29% Swing 6.31% 7.59% Alliance seats 159 75
Election map (By constituencies)
Chief Minister before election Edappadi K. Palaniswami AIADMK Elected Chief Minister M. K. Stalin DMK

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The poll was Tamil Nadu's first assembly election after the demises of the two most prominent Chief Ministers in the state's modern history, J. Jayalalithaa—general secretary of the AIADMK, and M. Karunanidhi—president of the DMK, who died in 2016 and 2018 respectively. With the AIADMK winning the 2016 election, Jayalalithaa became the Chief Minister and served for almost six months. Upon her death, O. Panneerselvam took charge as the Chief Minister, shortly after which Palaniswami was sworn in instead in 2017, who served till the end of the 15th assembly's tenure. The Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the elections to the 16th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on 26 February 2021.

The DMK continued its Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) with the Indian National Congress, the Communist parties and many others, and named Stalin as its candidate for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Office. The AIADMK joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling party of the Union Government of India, with Palanisami as its Chief Ministerial candidate. The polling was held on 6 April 2021 under COVID-19 guidelines. The state recorded a voter turnout of 73.63%. Surveys before and after the polls predicted the Stalin-led SPA to win the elections with a large margin. The votes were counted on 2 May 2021; the SPA amassed 159 seats, with the DMK alone winning in 133 constituencies, securing an absolute majority for the first time in 25 years. The NDA won 75 seats, out of which 66 were of the AIADMK. The DMK formed the Government of Tamil Nadu for the sixth time; Stalin and his council of ministers were sworn in on 7 May 2021.

The state of Tamil Nadu is divided into 234 assembly constituencies, each of which elects a member (called an MLA) to represent it at the state's unicameral legislative assembly, as per Article 168 of the Constitution of India. The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly convenes at Fort St. George, Chennai. The member that manages to receive the support of the majority of the members of the assembly (that is the Chief Ministerial candidate of the party that secures more than 50% of the seats), which is a minimum of 118 members, is appointed as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, who is the executive head of the Government of Tamil Nadu. The Governor of Tamil Nadu, the state's ceremonial head, will invite the Chief-Minister-elect and his Council of Ministers to be sworn in, to lead the state government for a term of the next five years.

Tamil Nadu's partisan politics have been dominated by its two regional Dravidian parties, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), for the last 50 years (since 1967). Each recognized party in India is given a polling symbol by the Election Commission of India, an independent and neutral body of officers that conducts and regulates all the elections in the country. The DMK contests with the Rising Sun symbol, while the AIADMK contests with the Two Leaves.

The legislative assembly of Tamil Nadu goes to polls alongside the legislative assemblies of three other Indian states, namely Assam, Kerala, and West Bengal, and that of the union territory of Puducherry.

Election Manifesto plays a key role in determining the voting behaviour of the voters in the Tamil Nadu Electoral Politics.^[30] Enabling people with information about manifestos, promises, and candidate details through technology can ensure that it reaches a huge number of people.^[31][32] Global Shapers Chennai, a non-partisan group powered by the World Economic Forum has released the TN Election Promises 2021 platform.^[33] The platform provides the voters with data and insights on the promises made by different parties, constituency-wise candidate background details (assets, education, criminal cases, etc.), and helps them compare the promises by categorizing them into different focus areas such as agriculture, education, etc., to help make an informed voting decision.^{[citation needed]}

According to the ECI, 62.6 million people were eligible to vote in upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.^{[34] [35]} Sholinganallur assembly has the highest number of eligible voters with 694,845 voters.^{[36] [35]}

The DMK went on a campaign tour titled Vidiyalai Nokki Stalinin Kural, which began on 20 December 2020 at Thirukkuvalai, the birthplace of M. Karunanidhi.^[40] Palaniswami started the AIADMK's campaign at his hometown, Edappadi, on 19 December 2020.^[41] CM Palanisami also launched his "Vetrinadai Podum Tamilagam" campaign followed by "Thodarattu Vetrinadai" campaign.

BJP politician and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, addressed a public rally in Coimbatore in presence of Annamalai K to support Vanathi Srinivasan on March 31, 2021.^[42] The BJP and the Hindu Munnani organized a bike rally where they shouted communal slogans. The BJP supporters also reportedly pelted stones at Muslim shops in the area.^[43] BJP candidate Vanathi Srinivasan described the stone-pelting incident as a minor incident while MNM president Kamal Haasan said that "riot specialists must be defeated through unity".^[44][45]

Candidates from recognized parties contested in 234 constituencies on 6 April. The Indian National Congress candidate for Srivilliputhur Assembly constituency, P. S. W. Madhava Rao, died on 11 April 2021 after testing positive for COVID-19.^[58]

The state recorded 73.83% voter turnout, which is 1.18% lesser than the preceding 2016 election. Karur district recorded the highest voter turnout amongst the state's districts, with 83.92%. Chennai district turned out the lowest (59.06%).

The Election Commission on March 24, banned the publication of any exit poll from 27 March till 7:30 PM of 29 April to prevent any influence on voters in the general election of West Bengal and by-elections in other states.^[63][64] On April 26, the ban period was advanced to 7:00 PM.^[65]

The results were announced by the Election Commission of India on 2 May 2021, starting at 9 AM IST. The DMK won 133 constituencies on its own, receiving a simple majority in the sixteenth Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, whereas its SPA alliance saw victory in a total of 159 constituencies. Meanwhile, the NDA alliance captured 75 constituencies, out of which the AIADMK had won 66. Other parties, alliances, and independent candidates did not secure any seats. After spending a decade as the opposition party, the DMK won Tamil Nadu from the AIADMK, which reigned the state for two consecutive terms (2011-2021). The AIADMK assumed the position of the opposition party at the sixteenth Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.^[77][78]

Palaniswami and his ministers resigned on 3 May 2021, submitting their papers of resignation to Banwarilal Purohit, the Governor of Tamil Nadu.^[88] During the early hours of the same day, DMK president Stalin paid respects at the memorial of his father and five-time Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi. Speaking to the journalists gathered there, Stalin stated that he will be sworn in as the Chief Minister in a simplistic ceremony that may be held at the Raj Bhavan, the Governor's residence. He underlined that the DMK will form the government for the sixth time in Tamil Nadu, and will follow the footsteps of Karunanidhi. Stalin added that the DMK's governance "will be such that those who had voted for the party will feel happy voting for it, and even those who did not vote would regret their decision to not have voted for the party".^[89]

After the resignation of Palanisami's administration, officials of the Public Works Department began resetting the Tamil Nadu Secretariat to prepare the campus for the new government under Stalin. The Chief Minister's Office returned all the files to the departments concerned, with the office quarters white-washed and name-boards of former ministers taken down.^[90]

Politicians, celebrities and government officials across India congratulated Stalin on his victory. The out-going Chief Minister Palanisami congratulated Stalin, tweeting: "My best wishes to M.K. Stalin who is going to take oath as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister". In another tweet, Stalin thanked Palanisami and sought his cooperation for "building the best Tamil Nadu".^[89] Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, tweeted that he will work with Stalin to enhance the nation's progress, fulfill the regional interests of Tamil Nadu, and fight the COVID-19 pandemic.^[91]

On 10 May 2021, the newly elected AIADMK MLAs convened to choose the new Leader of the Opposition, an important post equivalent to a cabinet minister. The meeting was inconclusive, with both Panneerselvam and Palaniswami staking claims to the post, while their supporters hurled charges against each other. This included a prolonged quarrel between the two sections of the party outside the party's head office, causing unrest. Supporters of Palaniswami believed that he should be the Leader of the Opposition due to the party's good performance in the election in western Tamil Nadu, the region he hails from; whereas, Panneerselvam's supporters felt that the party fared poorly in other regions of the state due to Palaniswami's wrong policies during his Chief Ministerial tenure.^[92] Eventually, Palaniswami was elected as the Leader of the Opposition.^[93]

After MNM performed unfavorably in its first-ever election, many officials and candidates resigned from the party, such as its vice president Dr. Mahendran, Muruganandam, C K Kumaravel. Mahendran said that "the attitude of Kamal Haasan towards the growth of the party has not been changed even after facing huge loss in the Tamil Nadu assembly election". He cited the presence of "Sankhya solutions" in the party and added that Haasan is being misguided. Others cited "personal reasons".^[94]

A fictionalized version of this election is an important plot point in the film Maamannan (2023)^{[citation needed]}