DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam)

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is a Tamil Nadu party founded on 17 September 1949 by C. N. Annadurai, who broke from Periyar's Dravidar Kazhagam because he wanted to enter electoral politics, which Periyar opposed (Wikipedia).

Its leaders in order: Annadurai led the party until his death on 4 February 1969 and was Chief Minister from 1967. M. Karunanidhi became its president in 1969 and held the post until 2018, serving five times as Chief Minister. M. K. Stalin succeeded him as president in 2018 and became Chief Minister in May 2021.

Its part in this history

• State autonomy: Karunanidhi set up the Rajamannar Committee on Centre-State relations in August 1970, and its report came on 27 May 1971. On 16 April 1974 he moved a resolution in the Tamil Nadu Assembly for a "truly federal set-up", which was carried. The News Minute notes that the Akali Dal's Anandpur Sahib resolution came on 17 October 1973, and that days earlier, on 14 October, Karunanidhi had claimed Congress men wanted to dismiss his government over his autonomy demand.
• 22 March 2025: Stalin hosted a Joint Action Committee meeting at Chennai on delimitation. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the Shiromani Akali Dal's working president Balwinder Singh Bhunder were among those who attended.
• March 2026: Jeevan Singh, national president of the Bahujan Dravida Party, told ANI that the DMK and the AIADMK had betrayed lower-caste voters, invoked Periyar without acting on his ideas, and kept the caste hierarchy. These are his claims; the report carries no reply from either party.

Where it stands today: In the results declared on 4 May 2026 the DMK won 59 of 234 seats, behind the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam's 108. Stalin lost his Kolathur seat and resigned as Chief Minister on 5 May, and C. Joseph Vijay was sworn in on 10 May 2026.