Muthuvel Karunanidhi (born as Daksinamoorthy on 3 June 1924) is an Indian politician who has served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on five separate occasions. He is the head of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a Dravidian political party in the state of Tamil Nadu. He has been the leader of the DMK since the death of its founder, C. N. Annadurai, in 1969. He holds the record of winning his seat in every election in which he has participated, in a political career spanning more than 60 years. In the 2004 Lok Sabha Elections, he led the DMK-led DPA (UPA and Left Parties) in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to win all 40 Lok Sabha seats. In the following 2009 Lok Sabha Elections, he was able to increase the number of seats for the DMK from 16 to 18 seats, and led the UPA in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, to win 28 seats, even with a significantly smaller coalition. He is also a playwright and screenwriter in Tamil cinema. He is popularly called Kalaignar. Since 1975, Karunanidhi has published six volumes of his autobiography, Nenjukku Neethi.
Puducherry in the Lok Sabha today
This profile was published on India Vote Kar in December 2016 and describes Muthuvel Karunanidhi as it stood then. Puducherry returns 1 members to the 18th Lok Sabha, elected in 2024:
- Puducherry — V. Vaithilingam, Indian National Congress