2004 Indian general election in Tamil Nadu

The 2004 Indian general election polls in Tamil Nadu were held for 39 seats in the state. The result was a victory for the Democratic Progressive Alliance, which included the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and its allies the Left Front which won all 39 seats in the state. DMK and its allies were also able to hold on to Pondicherry, which has 1 seat, which allowed the UPA to win all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. The 2 larger partners Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) (16) and Indian National Congress (INC) (10) won the majority of seats, with the junior partners Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) (5) and Marumaralarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) (4) winning the rest. The remaining 4 seats were won by the Left Front parties. Due to the support of the Left Front for the government at the centre, all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, supported the formation of the UPA-led government.

The DPA was formed, because DMK, PMK and MDMK, left the NDA mostly on the Ayodhya issue and created an alliance that supported the UPA. The NDA paid a price for it, when their BJP-AIADMK alliance couldn't even win a seat in this state.^[1]

Seat allotments

Democratic Progressive Alliance

Party		Leader	Seats Contested
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	M. Karunanidhi	15
	Indian National Congress	G. K. Vasan	9
	Pattali Makkal Katchi	S. Ramadoss	5
	Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Vaiko	4
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	N. Varadarajan	2
	Communist Party of India	R. Nallakannu	2
Unrecognized party, whose candidate ran under the DMK ticket
	Indian Union Muslim League	K. M. Kader Mohideen	1
Unrecognized party, whose candidate ran under the INC ticket
	Congress Jananayaka Peravai	P. Chidambaram	1

National Democratic Alliance

Party		Flag	Election symbol	Leader	Seats Contested
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam			J. Jayalalithaa	33
	Bharatiya Janata Party			C. P. Radhakrishnan	6

People's alliance

	Leader	Seats Contested
Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi	Thol. Thirumavalavan	8	25
Makkal Tamil Desam Katchi	R. S. Raja Kannappan	5
Puthiya Tamilagam	K. Krishnasamy	5
Janata Dal (United)	George Fernandes	3
Indian National League	Janab	3
Puratchi Council		1

Fourth front

Party		Flag	Election symbol	Leader	Seats Contested
	Janata Party			Subramanian Swamy	21	31
	Puthiya Needhi Katchi			A. C. Shanmugam	10	31

Note: The janata party and puthiya Needhi Katchi contested in janata party's symbol

Voting and results

Results by Pre-Poll Alliance

Alliance			Popular Vote	Percentage	Swing	Seats won	Seat Change
	United Progressive Alliance	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	7,064,393	24.60%	1.47%	16	4
		Indian National Congress	4,134,255	14.40%	3.30%	10	8
		Pattali Makkal Katchi	1,927,367	6.71%	1.50%	5
		Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	1,679,870	5.95%	0.10%	4
		Communist Party of India	852,981	2.97%	0.41%	2	2
		Communist Party of India (Marxist)	824,524	2.87%	0.52%	2	1
		Total	16,483,390	57.50%	4.10%	39	15
	National Democratic Alliance	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	8,547,014	29.77%	3.05%	0	10
		Bharatiya Janata Party	1,455,899	5.07%	2.07%	0	4
		Total	10,002,913	34.84%	0.98%	0	14
	Independents		947,938	3.30%	2.05%	0
	Other Parties (13 parties)		2,228,212	4.36%	7.13%	0	1
Total			28,714,515	100.00%		39
Valid Votes			28,714,515	99.94%
Invalid Votes			18,439	0.06%
Total Votes			28,732,954	100.00%
Registered Voters/Turnout			47,252,271	60.81%	2.83%

†: Seat change represents seats won in terms of the current alliances, which is considerably different from the last election. Also the seat change for BJP, includes the merged party MADMK, who won 1 seat in 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^[2]

1999 vs. 2004 Alliance

Coalition/Alliance	Parties contesting in Tamil Nadu from the Alliance in 1999	Seats won in 1999 Election	Parties contesting in Tamil Nadu from the Alliance in 2004	Seats won in 2004 Election	Swing
National Democratic Alliance	-Bharatiya Janata Party (4) -Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (12) -Marumaralarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (4) -Pattali Makkal Katchi (5) -MGR Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (1)	26	-Bharatiya Janata Party -All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	0	−26
United Progressive Alliance*	Indian National Congress (2) All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (10)	12	-Indian National Congress (10) -Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (16) -Marumaralarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (4) -Pattali Makkal Katchi (5)	35	+23
Left Front	Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (Marxist) (1)	1	Communist Party of India (2) Communist Party of India (Marxist) (2)	4	+3

Note: UPA was not in existence in 1999, instead the number of seats won in 1999, represents the seats won by Indian National Congress and its allies.
Note: INC affiliated parties, are parties that did not form an alliance or coalition with Congress party, but instead gave outside support.
Note: Left front, whose parties were allies of DMK in Tamil Nadu, was not part of the UPA, in 2004, instead gave outside support.

List of Elected MPs

Voting Pattern in Tamil Nadu
Category	DMK+	AIADMK+	Others
Gender
Male	54%	32%	14%
Female	49%	39%	12%
Locality
Rural	50%	35%	15%
Urban	57%	36%	7%
Social class
Very poor	44%	37%	17%
Poor	55%	31%	14%
Lower middle	57%	37%	6%
Middle	51%	39%	10%
Caste
Upper caste	33%	54%	13%
Thevar	50%	47%	3%
Vanniyars	61%	33%	6%
Chettiyars	47%	30%	23%
Gounders	57%	33%	10%
Nadars	57%	36%	7%
Lower OBCs	55%	33%	12%
Chekkliyars, Pallars, etc.	39%	38%	23%
other Dalits	40%	37%	23%
Muslims	78%	11%	11%
Tell me how good each of the leaders are for Tamil Nadu...
Rating	J. Jayalalithaa	M. Karunanidhi
Bad	51%	2%
Average	31%	33%
Good	11%	39%
Very good	3%	23%
Do not know	4%	3%

Source: NES Election 2004 Analysis^[3]

Constituency	Winner		% of Votes	Alliance	Runner-up
1. Chennai North	C. Kuppusami	DMK	62.25	UPA	M. N. Sukumar Nambiar	BJP
2. Chennai Central	Dayanidhi Maran	DMK	61.68	UPA	N. Balaganga	AIADMK
3. Chennai South	T. R. Baalu	DMK	60.37	UPA	Bader Sayeed	AIADMK
4. Sriperumbudur	A. Krishnaswamy	DMK	61.39	UPA	P. Venugopal	AIADMK
5. Chengalpattu	A. K. Moorthy	PMK	56.85	UPA	K. N. Ramachandran	AIADMK
6. Arakkonam	R. Velu	PMK	49.88	UPA	N. Shanmugam	AIADMK
7. Vellore	K. M. Kader Mohideen	DMK	58.38	UPA	A. Santhanam	AIADMK
8. Tiruppattur	D. Venugopal	DMK	58.43	UPA	K. G. Subramani	AIADMK
9. Vandavasi	N. Ramachandran Gingee	MDMK	56.12	UPA	R. Rajalakshmi	AIADMK
10. Tindivanam	K. Dhanaraju	PMK	50.40	UPA	A. Arunmozhithevan	AIADMK
11. Cuddalore	K. Venkatapathy	DMK	52.63	UPA	R. Rajendran	AIADMK
12. Chidambaram	E. Ponnuswamy	PMK	46.17	UPA	Thol. Thirumavalavan	JD(U)
13. Dharmapuri	R. Senthil	PMK	55.93	UPA	P. D. Elangovan	BJP
14. Krishnagiri	E. G. Sugavanam	DMK	54.51	UPA	K. Nanje Gowdu	AIADMK
15. Rasipuram	K. Rani	INC	55.20	UPA	S. Anbalagan	AIADMK
16. Salem	K. V. Thangkabalu	INC	59.93	UPA	A. Rajasekaran	AIADMK
17. Tiruchengode	Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan	DMK	58.00	UPA	K. Palaniswami	AIADMK
18. Nilgiris	R. Prabhu	INC	63.26	UPA	Master M. Mathan	BJP
19. Gobichettipalayam	E. V. K. S. Elangovan	INC	62.75	UPA	N. R. Govindarajar	AIADMK
20. Coimbatore	K. Subbarayan	CPI	57.43	LF	C. P. Radhakrishnan	BJP
21. Pollachi	C. Krishnan	MDMK	56.76	UPA	G. Murugan	AIADMK
22. Palani	S. K. Kharventhan	INC	64.50	UPA	K. Kishore Kumar	AIADMK
23. Dindigul	N. S. V. Chitthan	INC	58.92	UPA	M. Jeyaraman	AIADMK
24. Madurai	P. Mohan	CPI(M)	56.01	LF	A. K. Bose	AIADMK
25. Periyakulam	J. M. Aaron Rashid	INC	49.51	UPA	T. T. V. Dhinakaran	AIADMK
26. Karur	K. C. Palanisamy	DMK	60.43	UPA	N. Palanichamy Raja	AIADMK
27. Tiruchirappalli	L. Ganesan	MDMK	63.59	UPA	M. Paranjothi	AIADMK
28. Perambalur	A. Raja	DMK	55.01	UPA	M. Sundaram	AIADMK
29. Mayiladuturai	Mani Shankar Aiyar	INC	59.08	UPA	O. S. Manian	AIADMK
30. Nagapattinam	A. K. S. Vijayan	DMK	61.66	UPA	P. J. Arjunan	AIADMK
31. Thanjavur	S. S. Palanimanickam	DMK	56.56	UPA	K. Thangamuthu	AIADMK
32. Pudukkottai	S. Regupathy	DMK	56.82	UPA	A. Ravichandran	AIADMK
33. Sivaganga	P. Chidambaram	INC	60.00	UPA	S. P. Karuppiah	AIADMK
34. Ramanathapuram	M. S. K. Bhavani Rajenthiran	DMK	49.66	UPA	C. Murugesan	AIADMK
35. Sivakasi	A. Ravichandran	MDMK	56.44	UPA	P. Kannan	AIADMK
36. Tirunelveli	R. Dhanuskodi Athithan	INC	58.39	UPA	R. Amirtha Ganesan	AIADMK
37. Tenkasi	M. Appadurai	CPI	48.85	LF	S. Murugesan	AIADMK
38. Tiruchendur	V. Radhika Selvi	DMK	62.50	UPA	T. Dhamodharan	AIADMK
39. Nagercoil	A. V. Bellarmin	CPI(M)	60.87	LF	Pon. Radhakrishnan	BJP

Post-election Union Council of Ministers from Tamil Nadu

Source: The Hindu^[4]
After the UPA victory in this election, Tamil Nadu was rewarded with 12 berths in Union Council of Ministers, with 6 cabinet berths, which is the most this state has ever received after an election. 7 of the Ministers were from DMK, 2 from PMK, while the rest were from Congress.

Cabinet Ministers

Minister	Party	Lok Sabha Constituency/Rajya Sabha	Portfolios
P. Chidambaram	INC	Sivaganga	Minister of Finance
Mani Shankar Aiyar	INC	Mayiladuturai	Minister of Panchayati Raj and Minister of Development of North Eastern Region
T. R. Baalu	DMK	Chennai South	Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways
A. Raja	DMK	Perambalur (SC)	Minister of Environment and Forests
Dayanidhi Maran	DMK	Chennai Central	Minister of Communications and Information Technology
Anbumani Ramadoss	PMK	Rajya Sabha	Minister of Health and Family Welfare

Ministers of State

Minister	Party	Lok Sabha Constituency/Rajya Sabha	Portfolios
S. S. Palanimanickam	DMK	Thanjavur	Minister of Finance
S. Regupathy	DMK	Pudukkottai	Minister of Environment and Forests
K. Venkatapathy	DMK	Cuddalore	Minister of Law and Justice
Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan	DMK	Tiruchengode	Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment
E. V. K. S. Elangovan	INC	Gobichettipalayam	Minister of Commerce and Industry
R. Velu	PMK	Arakkonam	Minister of Railways

References

^ "The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Ayodhya one reason for quitting NDA, says Karunanidhi". Archived from the original on 13 September 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ "Election Commission of India". Retrieved 2 October 2009.
^ Thsks (20 May 2004). "The Hindu : State by State : Alliance effect, swing factor propelled DPA victory". Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 22 September 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2009.
^ "The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Tamil Nadu secures 12 berths". Archived from the original on 18 May 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

External links

[1] "The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Ayodhya one reason for quitting NDA, says Karunanidhi". Archived from the original on 13 September 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

[eci-website-2] "Election Commission of India". Retrieved 2 October 2009.

[3] Thsks (20 May 2004). "The Hindu : State by State : Alliance effect, swing factor propelled DPA victory". Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 22 September 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2009.

[4] "The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Tamil Nadu secures 12 berths". Archived from the original on 18 May 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

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