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 new 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 New Popular vote 3,491,390 2,851,884 Percentage 20.40% 16.67% Swing 19.46% New
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 (commonly known as M.G.R), the AIADMK founder and a prominent Tamil film actor, was sworn in as Chief Minister for the first time. The election was a four-cornered contest among the AIADMK, DMK, the Indian National Congress (INC), and the Janata Party.

In 1972, M.G.R founded the AIADMK after being expelled from the DMK due to differences with DMK leader M. Karunanidhi. On 31 January 1976, Karunanidhi's government was dismissed by the central government under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, citing non-cooperation under MISA. This led to the imposition of President's rule in the state. Karunanidhi had opposed the Emergency and allied with the Janata Party, founded by Jayaprakash Narayan. M.G.R served as Chief Minister until his death in 1987, winning re-election in the 1980 and 1984 elections.

M.G.R's success set a precedent for actors entering politics, inspiring Telugu superstar N.T.R to follow suit in 1982 and win the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections, subsequently becoming the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Since then, no other actor has replicated M.G.R's achievements in electoral politics.