1977 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election

1977 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election

← 1971 10 June 1977 1980 →
All 234 seats in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly 118 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	61.58%
First party Second party   Leader M. G. Ramachandran M. Karunanidhi Party AIADMK DMK Alliance AIADMK+ N/A Leader's seat Aruppukottai Anna Nagar Seats won 144 48 Seat change 142 136 Popular vote 5,734,692 4,258,771 Percentage 33.52% 24.89% Swing new party 23.69%   Third party Fourth party   Leader G. K. Moopanar P. Ramachandran Party INC(R) JP Alliance Congress alliance N/A Leader's seat did not contest did not contest Seats won 32 10 Seat change 24 11 Popular vote 3,491,390 2,851,884 Percentage 20.40% 16.67% Swing 19.46% 21.27%
1977 election map (by constituencies)
CM before election President's rule Nonpartisan Elected CM M. G. Ramachandran AIADMK

The sixth legislative assembly election of Tamil Nadu was held on 10 June 1977. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) won the election defeating its rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). M. G. Ramachandran (simply known as M.G.R in the state), the AIADMK founder and a leading Tamil film actor, was sworn in as Chief Minister for the first time. The election was a four-cornered contest between the AIADMK, DMK, the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Janata Party. Earlier in 1972, M.G.R had founded the AIADMK following his expulsion from the DMK after differences arose between him and DMK leader M. Karunanidhi. On 31 January 1976, Karunanidhi's government was dismissed by the central government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi citing non-co-operation for MISA and President's rule was imposed on the state. Karunanidhi had been at odds with Indira Gandhi over his opposition to Emergency and allied with Janata Party founded by Jayaprakash Narayan. M.G.R remained as Chief Minister until he died in 1987, winning the next two elections held in 1980 and 1984. Due to this feat, M.G.R inadvertently became an example for entry of famous actors to enter politics, with a hope that they too may become Chief minister one day. then Telugu superstar N.T.R followed M.G.R's suit in 1983 and won the Andhra Pradesh general Elections to become the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Since then, no other actor has been able to recreate M.G.R's achievements in electoral Politics.