List of leaders of the opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly

Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
Tamiḻnāṭu caṭṭamaṉṟa etirkkaṭcit talaivar
	Emblem of Tamil Nadu
	Incumbent; Edappadi K. Palaniswami; since 11 May 2021
	Chief Secretariat of Tamil Nadu
Nominator	Members of the Official Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
Appointer	Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
Inaugural holder	P. Ramamurthi
Formation	14 December 1953; 70 years ago
Website	www.assembly.tn.gov.in

The Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is an elected Member of Legislative Assembly who leads the official opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. The Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the chairperson of the largest political party in the legislative assembly that is not in government.

The current incumbent is Edappadi K. Palaniswami of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam since 11 May 2021.

Eligibility[edit]

Official Opposition^[1] is a term used in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly to designate the political party which has secured the second largest number of seats in the assembly. In order to get formal recognition, the party must have at least 10% of total membership of the Legislative Assembly. A single party has to meet the 10% seat criterion, not an alliance. Many of the Indian state legislatures also follows this 10% rule while the rest of them prefer single largest opposition party according to the rules of their respective houses.

Role and Responsibilities[edit]

The Opposition's main role is to question the government of the day and hold them accountable to the public. This also helps to fix the mistakes of the Ruling Party. The Opposition is equally responsible in upholding the best interests of the people of the country. They have to ensure that the Government does not take any steps, which might have negative effects on the people of the country.^[2]

The role of the opposition in legislature is basically to check the excesses of the ruling or dominant party, and not to be totally antagonistic. There are actions of the ruling party which may be beneficial to the masses and opposition is expected to support such steps.^[3]

In legislature, Opposition Party has a major role, which is:

Constructive criticism of government.
Putting restriction on arbitrariness of ruling party.
Safeguarding liberty and right of people.
Preparation to form government.
Expression of public opinion.

List[edit]

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected Constituency	Political Party	Term of office			Assembly (Election)	Appointed by
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected Constituency	Political Party	Assumed Office	Left Office	Time in Office	Assembly (Election)	Appointed by
1		P. Ramamurthi (1908–1987)	Madurai North	Communist Party of India	14 December 1953	31 March 1957	3 years, 107 days	1st (1952 election)	J. Shivashanmugam
2		V. K. Ramaswami (unknown–1984)	Uthiramerur	Independent	29 April 1957	18 March 1962	4 years, 323 days	2nd (1957 election)	U. Krishna Rao
3		V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (1920–2000)	Triplicane	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	29 March 1962	28 February 1967	4 years, 336 days	3rd (1962 election)	S. Chellapandian
4		P. G. Karuthiruman (1919–1977)	Sathyamangalam	Indian National Congress	15 March 1967	5 January 1971	3 years, 296 days	4th (1967 election)	S. P. Adithanar
–	Vacant		No official opposition because no party obtained at least 10% of the seats		22 March 1971	31 January 1976	4 years, 315 days	5th (1971 election)	N/A
5		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)	Anna Nagar	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	25 July 1977	17 February 1980	5 years, 259 days	6th (1977 election)	Munu Adhi
5		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)	Anna Nagar	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	27 June 1980	18 August 1983	5 years, 259 days	7th (1980 election)	K. Rajaram
6		K. S. G. Haja Shareef (unknown–1999)	Triplicane	Indian National Congress	29 August 1983	15 November 1984	1 year, 78 days	7th (1980 election)	K. Rajaram
7		O. Subramanian (unknown–2000)	Sivaganga	Indian National Congress	27 February 1985	30 January 1988	2 years, 337 days	8th (1984 election)	P. H. Pandian
8		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)	Bodinayakkanur	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	9 February 1989	1 December 1989	295 days	9th (1989 election)	M. Tamilkudimagan
9		S. R. Eradha (1934–2020)	Madurai East	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	1 December 1989	19 January 1991	1 year, 49 days
10		G. K. Moopanar (1931–2001)	Papanasam	Indian National Congress	19 January 1991	30 January 1991	11 days
11		S. R. Balasubramoniyan (1938–)	Pongalur	Indian National Congress	3 July 1991	13 May 1996	4 years, 315 days	10th (1991 election)	R. Muthiah
12		S. Balakrishnan (unknown–2006)	Mudukulathur	Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar)	23 May 1996	14 May 2001	4 years, 356 days	11th (1996 election)	P. T. R. Palanivel Rajan
13		K. Anbazhagan (1922–2020)	Harbour	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	24 May 2001	14 April 2006	4 years, 325 days	12th (2001 election)	K. Kalimuthu
14		O. Panneerselvam (1951–)	Periyakulam	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	19 May 2006	28 May 2006	9 days	13th (2006 election)	R. Avudaiyappan
(8)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)	Andipatti	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	29 May 2006	14 May 2011	4 years, 350 days	13th (2006 election)	R. Avudaiyappan
15		Vijayakant (1952–)	Rishivandiyam	Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam	27 May 2011	21 February 2016	4 years, 270 days	14th (2011 election)	D. Jayakumar
16		M. K. Stalin (1953–)	Kolathur	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	4 June 2016	3 May 2021	4 years, 333 days	15th (2016 election)	P. Dhanapal
17		Edappadi K. Palaniswami (1954–)	Edappadi	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	11 May 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 267 days	16th (2021 election)	M. Appavu

Statistics[edit]

List of leaders of the opposition by length of term

No.	Name	Party		Length of term
No.	Name	Party		Longest continuous term	Total years of opposition-ship
1	J. Jayalalithaa		AIADMK	4 years, 350 days	5 years, 280 days
2	M. Karunanidhi		DMK	5 years, 259 days	5 years, 259 days
3	S. Balakrishnan		TMC(M)	4 years, 356 days	4 years, 356 days
4	V. R. Nedunchezhiyan		DMK	4 years, 336 days	4 years, 336 days
5	M. K. Stalin		DMK	4 years, 333 days	4 years, 333 days
6	K. Anbazhagan		DMK	4 years, 325 days	4 years, 325 days
7	V. K. Ramaswami		IND	4 years, 323 days	4 years, 323 days
8	S. R. Balasubramoniyan		INC	4 years, 315 days	4 years, 315 days
9	Vijayakant		DMDK	4 years, 270 days	4 years, 270 days
10	P. G. Karuthiruman		INC	3 years, 296 days	3 years, 296 days
11	P. Ramamurthi		CPI	3 years, 107 days	3 years, 107 days
12	O. Subramanian		INC	2 years, 337 days	2 years, 337 days
13	K. S. G. Haja Shareef		INC	1 year, 78 days	1 year, 78 days
14	S. R. Eradha		AIADMK	1 year, 49 days	1 year, 49 days
15	Edappadi K. Palaniswami		AIADMK	2 years, 267 days	2 years, 267 days
16	G. K. Moopanar		INC	11 days	11 days
17	O. Panneerselvam		AIADMK	9 days	9 days

Timeline

<timeline> ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:15 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:200 left:20 AlignBars = late

Colors =

 id:aiadmk value:rgb(0,0.45882,0) legend: AIADMK
 id:cpi    value:rgb(1,0,0) legend: CPI
 id:dmdk   value:rgb(1,0.91764,0.09803) legend: DMDK
 id:dmk    value:rgb(0.86667,0.06667,0) legend: DMK
 id:inc    value:rgb(0,0.74902,1) legend: INC
 id:ind    value:rgb(0.86667,0.86667,0.86667) legend: IND
 id:tmc(m) value:rgb(1,0.27059,0) legend: TMC(M)
 id:vacant value:black legend: Vacant
 id:gray1  value:gray(0.8)
 id:gray2  value:gray(0.9)

Define $today = 02/02/2024

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:14/12/1953 till:$today TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMinor = gridcolor:gray2 unit:year increment:1 start:1954 ScaleMajor = gridcolor:gray1 unit:year increment:5 start:1954

Legend = columns:4 left:150 top:24 columnwidth:150

TextData =

 pos:(20,27) textcolor:black fontsize:M
 text: Political Party

BarData =

 barset:LOP

PlotData =

 width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
 barset:LOP

from: 14/12/1953 till: 31/03/1957 color:cpi text:"P. Ramamurthi" fontsize:10
from: 29/04/1957 till: 18/03/1962 color:ind text:"V. K. Ramaswami" fontsize:10
from: 29/03/1962 till: 28/02/1967 color:dmk text:"V. R. Nedunchezhiyan" fontsize:10
from: 15/03/1967 till: 05/01/1971 color:inc text:"P. G. Karuthiruman" fontsize:10
from: 22/03/1971 till: 31/01/1976 color:vacant text:"Vacant" fontsize:10
from: 25/07/1977 till: 17/02/1980 color:dmk text:"M. Karunanidhi" fontsize:10
from: 27/06/1980 till: 18/08/1983 color:dmk text:"M. Karunanidhi" fontsize:10
from: 29/08/1983 till: 15/11/1984 color:inc text:"K. S. G. Haja Shareef" fontsize:10
from: 27/02/1985 till: 30/01/1988 color:inc text:"O. Subramanian" fontsize:10
from: 09/02/1989 till: 01/12/1989 color:aiadmk text:"J. Jayalalithaa" fontsize:10
from: 01/12/1989 till: 19/01/1991 color:aiadmk text:"S. R. Eradha" fontsize:10
from: 19/01/1991 till: 30/01/1991 color:inc text:"G. K. Moopanar" fontsize:10
from: 03/07/1991 till: 13/05/1996 color:inc text:"S. R. Balasubramoniyan" fontsize:10
from: 23/05/1996 till: 14/05/2001 color:tmc(m) text:"S. Balakrishnan" fontsize:10
from: 24/05/2001 till: 14/04/2006 color:dmk text:"K. Anbazhagan" fontsize:10
from: 19/05/2006 till: 28/05/2006 color:aiadmk text:"O. Panneerselvam" fontsize:10
from: 29/05/2006 till: 14/11/2011 color:aiadmk text:"J. Jayalalithaa" fontsize:10
from: 27/05/2011 till: 21/02/2016 color:dmdk text:"Vijayakant" fontsize:10
from: 04/06/2016 till: 03/05/2021 color:dmk text:"M. K. stalin" fontsize:10
from: 11/05/2021 till: end color:aiadmk text:"Edappadi K. Palaniswami" fontsize:10

</timeline>

List by party

Political parties by total time-span of their member holding LOPO (2 February 2024)
No.	Political party	Number of Leaders of the opposition	Total days of holding LOPO
1	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	4	7461 days
2	Indian National Congress	5	4948 days
3	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	4	3527 days
4	Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar)	1	1817 days
5	Independent	1	1784 days
6	Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam	1	1731 days
7	Communist Party of India	1	1203 days

Living former leaders of the opposition[edit]

As of 2 February 2024, there are four living former leaders of the opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly:

Living former leaders of the opposition
S.R. Balasubramoniyan.jpg

S. R. Balasubramoniyan
(1991–1996)
(1938-11-14) 14 November 1938 (age 85)
O. Panneerselvam
(2006–2006)
(1951-01-14) 14 January 1951 (age 73)
Vijayakant
(2011–2016)
(1952-08-25) 25 August 1952 (age 71)
M. K. Stalin
(2016–2021)
(1953-03-01) 1 March 1953 (age 70)

The most recent death of a former leader of the opposition was that of S. R. Eradha on 8 December 2020, aged 86.

References[edit]

↑ "Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977". Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Government of India. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
↑ Role of Leader of Opposition in India
↑ Role of Opposition in Parliament of India

Template:Current Indian opposition leaders

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[Salary_and_Allowances_of_Leaders_of_Opposition_in_Parliament_Act,_1977-1] "Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977". Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Government of India. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2022.

[2] Role of Leader of Opposition in India

[3] Role of Opposition in Parliament of India

[1]

[2]

[3]