List of Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu from 1949 to 2021: Names and Tenures

Updated: Feb 24, 2026

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Name	Tenure	Party
P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja	1949–1952	Indian National Congress
O. P. Ramaswamy Reddiyar	1952–1954	Indian National Congress
C. Rajagopalachari	1952–1954	Indian National Congress
K. Kamaraj	1954–1963, 1963–1967	Indian National Congress
M. Bakthavatsalam	1963, 1967–1969	Indian National Congress
V. R. Nedunchezhiyan	1969–1971	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)
M. Karunanidhi	1969–1971, 1971–1976, 1989–1991, 1996–2001, 2006–2011	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)
Janaki Ramachandran	1987	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)
V. N. Janaki Ramachandran	1988	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)
M. G. Ramachandran	1977–1980, 1980–1984, 1984–1987	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)
V. R. Nedunchezhiyan	1987	Indian National Congress
R. V. Swaminathan	1991–1996	Indian National Congress
J. Jayalalithaa	1991–1996, 2001–2002, 2002–2006, 2011–2014, 2015–2016	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)
O. Panneerselvam	2001, 2014–2015, 2016–2017, 2017–2021	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)
Edappadi K. Palaniswami	2017–2021	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)
M. K. Stalin	2021–present	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)