Vijayakant era (2005–23)

The party was founded on 14 September 2005, as Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) by the former leader of the opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Vijayakant (Captain), a veteran Tamil film star and popular politician. He assumed the responsibility of the founder-president of the party. Ramu Vasanthan, who was the state president of the fans' forum, took charge as the general secretary of the party. On 17 July 2009, he died of a cardiac arrest. In 2014, the party's founder-president, Vijayakant, took over the position that had previously been vacant.

In the 2006 assembly elections, the party contested all 234 seats without an alliance and bagged only one seat with 8.38% of the vote, that of its founder-president Vijayakant from Vriddhachalam constituency, who served as a member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Other candidates of this party who contested in other constituencies in this election failed.

In the 2009 general elections, it contested 40 seats—39 in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry—without an alliance and lost in all the constituencies with 0.75% of the vote.^[2]

Following widespread corruption, a price rise, a power cut, and allegations of nepotism against the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government, in the 2011 assembly elections, the party, in alliance with parties like the left and former chief minister of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalithaa's All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK),^[3] swept the polls, winning 202 seats, with the DMDK winning 29 out of 40 which it contested, and got the opposition status in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly by making it a second largest party in the legislative assembly next only to its ally AIADMK pushing DMK to third position and Vijayakant recognized as the leader of the opposition in the assembly, becoming the first actor to become the leader of the opposition in a state's legislative assembly in India. The large victory also earned recognition and a permanent election symbol Nagara from the Election Commission of India.^[4] Vijayakant stepped down as leader of the opposition on 21 February 2016, after eight DMDK party MLAs resigned.^[5]

The party's performance began to deteriorate after the 2014 general elections; it fought the Lok Sabha election in an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).^[6] Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Pattali Makkal Katchi, and Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi and Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi's Social Democratic Alliance are the other allies of the National Democratic Alliance in Tamil Nadu. In the NDA alliance, the party had the highest number of seats, which were 14 in number. Despite the big hype, the party lost all 14 seats to AIADMK candidates. But it was the first time in 52 years that the DMK alliance was pushed to third place by the number of seats, and this election gave confidence to most parties that the future of Tamil Nadu lies in a coalition government.

The DMDK decided to run alongside the People's Welfare Front (PWA) in the 2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections, as part of the "Captain Vijayakant Alliance,"^[7] which included the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Vaiko's Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and Thol. Thirumavalavan's Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi. The DMDK performed poorly in the election, not winning even a single constituency and losing deposits in the majority of its seats. It also witnessed a vote swing of -5.49% from the 2011 assembly elections.

In the 2019 general elections, after several rounds of talks with different political parties, The move comes after the DMDK’s attempts to make an alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which has already entered into a pre-poll alliance with the Congress and several others, failed. DMDK contested with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Tamil Nadu for the 17th Lok Sabha polls, along with All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar), and some unrecognized parties. Vijayakant wants to prove his vote bank strength in this election, but the party was humiliated and lost all four that it contested out of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), a DMK-led alliance consisting of all the major opposition parties in the state, swept the election by winning 38 seats.

In the 2021 assembly elections, the DMDK, which had the support of the Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam, Social Democratic Party of India, and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, lost 60 seats contested and saw a vote percentage swing of -1.96% compared to previous assembly elections. After the election, the DMK emerged as the ruling party, and the AIADMK emerged as the main party of the opposition in the assembly.

On 26 December 2023, Vijayakant was admitted to MIOT International Hospital, Chennai, due to pneumonia. After a prolonged illness, he passed away after testing positive for COVID-19 on 28 December 2023.

Premallatha Vijayakant era (2023–present)

On 14 December 2023, the former leader of the opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Vijayakant, announced and appointed Premallatha Vijayakant as the general secretary of the party in the presence of the party's deputy secretaries at the General Council Meeting held in Chennai.^[8] Since Vijayakant's demise, the party is being completely led by Premallatha as the general secretary of the party.

Indian general elections

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Lok Sabha Elections

Year	Lok Sabha	Party leader	Seats contested	Seats won	Change in seats	Percentage of votes	Vote swing	Popular vote	Outcome
2009	15th	Vijayakant	40	0 / 543		0.75%		3,126,117	Lost
2014	16th		14	0 / 543		0.38%	0.37%	2,078,843
2019	17th		4	0 / 543		0.15%	0.23%	929,590
2024	18th	Premallatha Vijayakant	5	TBA					Others

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State legislative assembly elections

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Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Elections^[9]

Year	Assembly	Party leader	Seats contested	Seats won	Change in seats	Percentage of votes	Vote swing	Popular vote	Outcome
2006	13th	Vijayakant	234	1 / 234	1	8.38%		2,764,223	Others
2011	14th		41	29 / 234	28	7.88%	0.50%	2,903,828	Opposition
2016	15th		104	0 / 234	29	2.39%	5.49%	1,034,384	Lost
2021	16th		60	0 / 234		0.43%	1.96%	200,157

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Puducherry Legislative Assembly Elections^[10]

Year	Assembly	Party leader	Seats contested	Seats won	Change in seats	Percentage of votes	Vote swing	Popular vote	Outcome
2006	12th	Vijayakant	24	0 / 30		2.73%		15,405	Lost
2011	13th		1	0 / 30		0.85%	1.88%	5,966
2016	14th		6	0 / 30		0.11%	0.74%	850
2021	15th		26	0 / 30		0.30%	0.19%	2,524

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National Capital Territory of Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections^[11]

Year	Assembly	Party leader	Seats contested	Seats won	Change in seats	Percentage of votes	Vote swing	Popular vote	Outcome
2013	5th	Vijayakant	11	0 / 70		0.03%		2,285	Lost

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