| Election Name: | Indian general election in Tamil Nadu, 2004 |
| Country: | India |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | Indian general election in Tamil Nadu, 1999 |
| Previous Year: | 1999 |
| Next Election: | Indian general election in Tamil Nadu, 2009 |
| Next Year: | 2009 |
| Election Date: | April–May 2004 |
| Seats For Election: | 39 seats |
| Leader1: | M. Karunanidhi |
| Party1: | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam |
| Alliance1: | UPA+DPA |
| Seats1: | 39 |
| Seat Change1: | 12 |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,64,83,390 |
| Percentage1: | 57.40% |
| Swing1: | 15.73% |
| Leader2: | J. Jayalalithaa |
| Party2: | All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam |
| Alliance2: | National Democratic Alliance (India) |
| Seats2: | 0 |
| Seat Change2: | 14 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,00,02,913 |
| Percentage2: | 34.84% |
| Swing2: | 11.57% |
| Map Size: | 200px |
| Before Party: | National Democratic Alliance (India) |
| After Party: | United Progressive Alliance |
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]
| Party | Flag | Symbol | 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 | ||||
| Party | Flag | Election symbol | Leader | Seats Contested | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | J. Jayalalithaa | 33 | ||||
| Bharatiya Janata Party | C. P. Radhakrishnan | 6 | ||||
| Party | Flag | Symbol | 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 | |||||
| Party | Flag | Election symbol | Leader | Seats Contested | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Janata Party | Subramanian Swamy | 21 | 31 | |||
| Puthiya Needhi Katchi | A. C. Shanmugam | 10 | ||||
Note: The janata party and puthiya Needhi Katchi contested in janata party's symbol
See also: Detailed Results of the 2004 Indian general election in Tamil Nadu by assembly constituents.
| Alliance | Party | align=centre | Popular Vote | align=centre | Percentage | align=centre | Swing | align=centre | Seats won | align=centre | 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% | |||||||||||
| Reigstered 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]
| 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 |
| 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... | |||
| + Karunanidhi rated better than Jayalalithaa | Rating | J. Jayalalithaa | M. Karunanidhi |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bad | 51% | 2% | |
| Average | 31% | 33% | |
| Good | 11% | 39% | |
| Very good | 3% | 23% | |
| Do not know | 4% | 3% | |
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.