1962 Madras State Legislative Assembly election

Two member constituencies were abolished in 1961 by the Two-Member Constituencies(Abolition) Act, 1961. 38 two member constituencies were abolished and an equal number of single member constituencies were established and reserved for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates. The total number of constituencies remained at 206.^[2]

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was emerging as a major challenger to Indian National Congress party in Tamil Nadu. However, its popularity was limited to the urban areas surrounding Madras and North and South Arcot districts. It had lacked a major support base in rural central and southern Tamil Nadu, a strong base of the Congress party. It won three city elections of the five largest cities, Madras, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Salem and Coimbatore in Madras state in alliance with the Communist Party of India in 1959 capitalising on its powerful urban base.^{[citation needed]}

While trying to clarify DMK's position on "Northern domination", Annadurai said his party only meant that the existing Central Government was holding extraordinary powers over the States and his party only seeks to change this by "amendment of the Constitution through Constitutional methods". Infuriated by the softening of DMK's position, E. V. K. Sampath condemned what he called Annadurai's "dictatorship".^[3]

Indian National Congress contested the election alone. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy supported Congress headed by K. Kamaraj. He said

I am old. I may not live long. After I am gone, Kamaraj will safeguard the interest of the Tamils. He is my heir. Ultimately it is Kamaraj who counts-not others, candidates or even voters who are anyway unfit to judge what is right and good for them! Take my word, vote Congress and you will be well. If you don't, the ingenious Rajaji riding the DMK horse will trample you all without mercy.

Kamaraj fully made use of the popularity of E. V. Ramaswamy and identified himself with Tamil Nationalist aspirations. In February 1962, he introduced a bill Changing the name of Madras to Tamil Nadu for communications within the state and advocated to establish Madurai as the capital city of Madras.^[3]

As the 1962 election approached, the two wings of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam further polarised over the issue of electoral alliance. E. V. K. Sampath favoured alliance with Communist Party of India and Annadurai favoured alliance with the newly formed C. Rajagopalachari's Swatantra Party. Rajaji, the Chief Minister of Madras State between 1952 and 1954 had been a declared enemy of DMK and now he sought alliance with DMK. He said that the

Congress party is more communal than parties which are openly communal.

In 1961, Sampath left DMK to form his own party Tamil Nationalist Party with an objective and goal to establish an "autonomous Tamil State".^[4] Annadurai's idea to include Swatantra Party in the electoral alliance was not totally welcome in the DMK party and despite Rajaji's opposition DMK aligned with the Communist Party of India. It also formed coalition with Muthuramalinga Thevar's Forward Bloc and Mohammad Ismail's Muslim League.^[3][4]

M. G. Ramachandran actively campaigned for Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. S. S. Rajendran, one of the popular actors contested and won from Theni Constituency. Shivaji Ganesan extended his support & actively campaigned to Congress Party. Congress party made a movie Vakkurimai by popular film actors which was played all across Tamil Nadu.^[3][4]

Source: Election Commission of India^[5]

Alliances	Party		Popular Vote	Vote %	Seats contested	Seats won	Change
INC Seats: 139 Seat Change: -12 Popular Vote: 5,848,974 Popular Vote %: 46.14%		Indian National Congress	5,848,974	46.14%	206	139	12
Others Seats: 67 Seat Change: +25 Popular Vote: 6,827,372 Popular Vote %: 53.86%		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	3,435,633	27.10%	143	50	37
		Swatantra Party	991,773	7.82%	94	6	6
		Forward Bloc	173,261	1.37%	6	3	3
		Communist Party of India	978,806	7.72%	68	2	2
		Socialist Party	48,753	0.38%	7	1	–
		Praja Socialist Party	159,212	1.26%	21	0	2
		We Tamils	117,640	0.93%	16	0	–
		Indian Union Muslim League	89,968	0.71%	6	0	–
		Republican Party of India	57,457	0.45%	4	0	–
		Tamil National Party	44,048	0.35%	9	0	–
		Socialist Labour	43,186	0.34%	7	0	–
		Jan Sangh	10,743	0.08%	4	0	–
		Independent	676,892	5.34%	207	5	17
Total	13 Political Parties		12,676,346	100%	—	206	—

• Elections in Tamil Nadu
• Legislature of Tamil Nadu
• Government of Tamil Nadu

• Election Commission of India
• Rethinking Dravidian Hegemony in Tamil Nadu Party Politics