The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the head of government of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's de jure head, while the de facto authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, the state's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with the majority of seats in the assembly to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given that the chief minister has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.
Since 1950, Tamil Nadu has had 14 chief ministers. The first four chief ministers belonged to the Indian National Congress, of which K. Kamaraj held the post for the longest, for more than nine years. With the rise of Dravidian parties in the state, C. N. Annadurai of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) became the first non-Congress chief minister in 1969. Annadurai was from the Tamil film industry, and since his tenure, a significant number of the state's chief ministers have hailed from the industry.
M. Karunanidhi of the DMK succeeded Annadurai, and was the longest-serving chief minister, holding the office for nearly nineteen years across five tenures. M. G. Ramachandran of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) took office in 1977 and served for nearly a decade across three terms. In 1987, V. N. Janaki Ramachandran of the AIADMK became the first woman to hold the position of the state's chief minister. J. Jayalalithaa of the AIADMK became the youngest Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu at the age of 43 in 1991, and had the second longest tenure, holding the office for more than fourteen years across multiple terms.
There have been four instances of President's rule in Tamil Nadu, most recently in 1991. C. Joseph Vijay of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam is the incumbent since 10 May 2026, and is the first chief minister from a non-Dravidian party since 1967.
List
The Madras Presidency, based at Fort St. George, was a presidency of India that was established in 1652 by the English East India Company to be the headquarters of the English settlements on the Coromandel Coast.
The territory under the presidency consisted of the village of Madrasapattinam and its surrounding regions. After a series of wars including the Anglo-French wars, Anglo-Mysore wars, and Polygar wars, and the consequent alliance with the Nawab of Arcot, it was expanded to cover the region from the Northern Circars to Cape Comorin, and included present-day Tamil Nadu, the Malabar region of North Kerala, the coastal and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh, and the Bellary, Dakshina Kannada, and Udupi districts of Karnataka.
The Indian Councils Act 1861 set up the Madras Legislative Council as an advisory body, without powers, through which the colonial administration obtained advice and assistance from able and willing Indian leaders. However, the members were appointed and not elected by the public. With the enactment of the Government of India Act 1919, the first elected legislature was formed in 1920 after the general elections. The term of the legislative council was three years. It had 132 members, of whom 34 were nominated by the governor and the rest were elected.
As per the Government of India Act 1935, a bicameral legislature was set up with a legislative assembly consisting of 215 members and a legislative council having 56 members. The first legislative assembly under this act was constituted in July 1937. The legislative council was a permanent body, with a third of its members retiring every three years and having the power to decide on bills passed by the assembly.
In 1939, the Governor-General of India declared India's entry into World War II without consulting the Imperial Legislative Council. The Indian National Congress protested by asking all its elected representatives to resign from governments. It was reconstituted after new provincial elections were conducted in 1946. The governance structure also evolved from a modest secretariat with a single secretary for the public department in 1670 to six departments overseen by a chief secretary by 1920.
;Color key for political parties
;Key
- Resigned
- Died in office
- Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term
Chief Ministers of Madras Presidency
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;"
|-
!rowspan=2|No.
!rowspan=2|Portrait
!rowspan=2|Name
<small></small>
!rowspan=2|Elected constituency
!colspan=3|Term of office
!rowspan=2|Council<br/>
!rowspan=2|Ministry
!rowspan=2|Appointed by
!rowspan=2 colspan=2|Political party
|-
!Assumed office
!Left office
!Time in office
|-
!1
|
|A. Subbarayalu Reddiar<br/><small>(1855–1921)</small>
|Member of the Legislative Council
|17 December 1920
|11 July 1921
|206 days
|rowspan=2|1st<br/>
|Reddiar
|Frederic Thesiger
|rowspan=3|South Indian Liberal Federation
|rowspan=3
|-
!rowspan=2|2
|rowspan=2|100px
|rowspan=2|Panaganti Ramarayaningar<br/><small>(1866–1928)</small>
|rowspan=2|Member of the Legislative Council
|11 July 1921
|11 September 1923
|rowspan=2|5 years, 145 days
|Ramarayaningar I
|rowspan=2|Rufus Isaacs
|-
|12 September 1923
|3 December 1926
|2nd<br/>
|Ramarayaningar II
|-
!3
|100px
|P. Subbarayan<br/><small>(1889–1962)</small>
|Member of the Legislative Council
|4 December 1926
|27 October 1930
|3 years, 327 days
|3rd<br/>
|Subbarayan
|rowspan=2|Edward Wood
|Independent
|
|-
!4
|100px
|B. Munuswamy Naidu<br/><small>(1885–1935)</small>
|Member of the Legislative Council
|27 October 1930
|4 November 1932
|2 years, 8 days
|rowspan=2|4th<br/>
|Naidu
|rowspan=5|South Indian Liberal Federation
|rowspan=5
|-
!rowspan=2|5
|rowspan=2|100px
|rowspan=2|Ramakrishna Ranga Rao<br/><small>(1901–1978)</small>
|rowspan=2|Member of the Legislative Council
|5 November 1932
|5 November 1934
|rowspan=2|3 years, 151 days
|Rao I
|rowspan=3|Freeman Freeman-Thomas
|-
|5 November 1934
|4 April 1936
|rowspan=3|5th<br/>
|Rao II
|-
!6
|100px
|P. T. Rajan<br/><small>(1892–1974)</small>
|Member of the Legislative Council
|4 April 1936
|24 August 1936
|142 days
|Rajan
|-
!(5)
|100px
|Ramakrishna Ranga Rao<br/><small>(1901–1978)</small>
|Member of the Legislative Council
|24 August 1936
|1 April 1937
|220 days
|Rao III
|rowspan=3|Victor Hope
|-
!7
|100px
|Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu<br/><small>(1875–1942)</small>
|Member of the Legislative Council
|1 April 1937
|14 July 1937
|104 days
|rowspan=2|1st<br/>
|Naidu
|Independent
|
|-
!8
|100px
|C. Rajagopalachari<br/><small>(1878–1972)</small>
|Member of the Legislative Council
|14 July 1937
|29 October 1939
|2 years, 107 days
|Rajagopalachari I
|Indian National Congress
|
|-
!–
|75px
|Vacant<br/>(Governor-General's rule)
|N/A
|29 October 1939
|29 April 1946
|6 years, 182 days
|Dissolved
|N/A
|–
|N/A
|style="background:white;|
|-
!9
|100px
|T. Prakasam<br/><small>(1872–1957)</small>
|Member of the Legislative Council
|30 April 1946
|23 March 1947
|327 days
|rowspan=3|2nd<br/>
|Prakasam
|Archibald Wavell
|rowspan=3|Indian National Congress
|rowspan=3
|-
!10
|100px
|O. P. Ramaswamy Reddiyar<br/><small>(1895–1970)</small>
|Member of the Legislative Council
|23 March 1947
|6 April 1949
|2 years, 14 days
|Reddiyar
|Archibald Nye
|-
!11
|100px
|P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja<br/><small>(1898–1957)</small>
|Member of the Legislative Council
|6 April 1949
|25 January 1950
|294 days
|Raja
|Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji
|}
Timeline
Development after independence
Madras State, the precursor to the present-day state of Tamil Nadu, was created after India became a republic on 26 January 1950. It consisted of present-day Tamil Nadu and parts of present-day Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala. The first legislature of the Madras State to be elected on the basis of universal suffrage was constituted on 1 March 1952, after the general elections held in January 1952.
The state was split up along linguistic lines in 1953, carving out Andhra State. Under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, the states of Kerala and Mysore State were carved out of Madras State. Under the Andhra Pradesh and Madras Alteration of Boundaries Act, 1959, with effect from 1 April 1960, Tiruttani taluk and Pallipattu sub-taluk of Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh were transferred to Madras in exchange for territories from the Chingelput and Salem districts.
;Color key for political parties
;Key
- Resigned
- Died in office
Chief Ministers of Madras State
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;"
|-
!rowspan=2|No.
!rowspan=2|Portrait
!rowspan=2|Name
<small></small>
!rowspan=2|Elected constituency
!colspan=3|Term of office Consequently, the nomenclature "Madras Legislative Assembly" was changed to "Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly". From 1967 onwards, the strength of the assembly continued to remain at 234 plus a nominated member.
From 1952 to 1986, the state had a parliamentary system of government with two democratically elected houses, the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. On 14 May 1986, the state government passed a resolution to abolish the legislative council in the state, which was then moved and adopted by the house. On 1 November 1986, Tamil Nadu became a state with a unicameral legislature, and since then, several times, the state government has taken steps to reconstitute the legislative council, but they have failed for so long. The Tamil Nadu Legislative Council has not been constituted in the state to date.
;Legend
;Color key for political parties
;Key
- Resigned
- Died in office
- Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term
Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;"
|-
!rowspan=2|No.
!rowspan=2|Portrait
!rowspan=2|Name
<small></small>
!rowspan=2|Elected constituency
!colspan=3|Term of office