State / UT
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is a state of the Indian Union, reconstituted on linguistic lines on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act and renamed from Madras State to Tamil Nadu on 14 January 1969. It had 72,147,030 residents at the 2011 Census, sends 39 members to the Lok Sabha and 18 to the Rajya Sabha, and holds the second-largest state economy in India. Its legislature has been unicameral since the Legislative Council was abolished with effect from 1 November 1986, leaving a single 234-seat Legislative Assembly at Fort St. George in Chennai. Structurally, Tamil Nadu is distinctive for its 69% reservation regime, protected from judicial challenge by placement in the Ninth Schedule in 1994, and for a sustained record of testing the constitutional limits of Union and gubernatorial authority over an elected state government.
Updated
- Capital
- Chennai
- Formed
- 1 November 1956 (States Reorganisation Act); renamed Tamil Nadu 14 January 1969
- Legislature
- Unicameral — Legislative Assembly, 234 seats (Council abolished 1 November 1986)
- Lok Sabha seats
- 39
- Rajya Sabha seats
- 18
- Population (2011 Census)
- 72,147,030 (sixth-largest state)
- Area
- 130,058 sq km (tenth-largest state)
- Districts
- 38
- Urbanisation
- 48.4% urban (2011 Census)
Role
Tamil Nadu is a federal actor of the first rank. Its 234-seat unicameral Legislative Assembly sits at Fort St. George in Chennai, and a Council of Ministers headed by the current Chief Minister is responsible to that House; the Governor, appointed by the Union, holds the assent power under Article 200. The state has been unicameral since its Legislative Council was abolished with effect from 1 November 1986 — a structural choice that concentrates all legislative authority in a single directly elected chamber, with no revising body and no indirectly elected route into the legislature. Under the State List the state government runs law and order and the police, land and land revenue, agriculture, public health, and school and higher education. In the Union Parliament it holds 39 Lok Sabha seats and 18 in the Rajya Sabha, and it carried 72,147,030 people at the 2011 Census, the sixth-largest state population across 38 districts and 130,058 sq km.
What is structurally distinctive is the combination of economic weight with a standing constitutional argument about the limits of Union authority. Tamil Nadu holds the second-largest state economy in India, is among the most urbanised large states at 48.4% urban in 2011, and is described as the most industrialised in the country, with services and industry together supplying roughly seven-eighths of output. That weight sits alongside three long-running federal questions. The first is reservation: the state’s 69% quota, above the 50% ceiling applied elsewhere, survives because the 1993 Act was placed in the Ninth Schedule in 1994 rather than because it was defended on the merits in court. The second is water: the Kaveri allocation was settled by tribunal in 2007, notified only in 2013, revised by the Supreme Court to 404.25 tmcft in 2018, and is now administered by the Cauvery Water Management Authority constituted on 1 June 2018 — a case study in how inter-state resource disputes migrate from courts to standing federal bodies. The third is the assent power itself: the Supreme Court’s 8 April 2025 ruling in State of Tamil Nadu v. Governor of Tamil Nadu, which held that a Governor has neither an absolute nor a pocket veto and fixed time limits on the office, arose from this state’s bills and now governs Centre–state legislative relations generally. Running underneath all three is the delimitation freeze extended to 2026 by the Eighty-fourth Amendment, which holds the state’s Lok Sabha share at 39 and defers the question of how a demographically stable state is represented against more populous ones.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- reference
Madras State reconstituted on linguistic lines
The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 redrew the state's boundaries: Malabar district went to the newly formed Kerala, and Kanyakumari district was transferred into Madras State. This established the territorial shape the state holds today.
- reference
Madras State renamed Tamil Nadu
The state was renamed Tamil Nadu, meaning 'Tamil country'. The renaming followed a long-running campaign to give the state a name reflecting its linguistic basis rather than its colonial capital.
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Legislative Council abolished; legislature becomes unicameral
The Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was abolished with effect from 1 November 1986 by an Act of Parliament, leaving the 234-seat Legislative Assembly as the sole chamber. The 234-seat strength itself dates to the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 1965.
- reference
69% reservation placed in the Ninth Schedule
The Tamil Nadu Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 1993 was placed in the Ninth Schedule in 1994, shielding it from judicial challenge and holding the state's reservation at 69% — above the 50% ceiling applied elsewhere. The quantum comprises Backward Classes 30%, Most Backward Communities 20%, Scheduled Castes 18% and Scheduled Tribes 1%.
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Delimitation freeze extended to 2026, deferring a seat-share question
The Constitution (Eighty-fourth Amendment) Act, 2002 continued the freeze on each state's total number of Lok Sabha seats until 2026, extending a freeze first imposed by the Forty-second Amendment in 1976. The freeze holds Tamil Nadu at 39 Lok Sabha seats; commentary identifies Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Punjab as states whose seat share would fall relative to more populous northern states were apportionment to resume on population.
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Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal final award allocates 419 tmcft to Tamil Nadu
The Tribunal issued its final award on 5 February 2007, allocating 419 tmcft to Tamil Nadu. The Union government did not notify the award in the official gazette until 20 February 2013, a six-year gap that left the allocation unenforceable in the interim.
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Supreme Court revises Cauvery allocation; management authority constituted
The Supreme Court modified the Tribunal award on 16 February 2018, reducing Tamil Nadu's share to 404.25 tmcft and increasing Karnataka's entitlement. The Union government constituted the Cauvery Water Management Authority on 1 June 2018 to administer the award, moving day-to-day allocation from litigation to a standing federal body.
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Supreme Court rules on the Governor's power to withhold assent
In State of Tamil Nadu v. Governor of Tamil Nadu (2025 INSC 481), decided 8 April 2025, the Court addressed the Governor's handling of bills passed between January 2020 and April 2023 — ten returned and two reserved for the President on 13 November 2023, with the ten re-passed by the Assembly on 18 November 2023. The Court held that Article 200 admits no absolute veto and no pocket veto, that the Governor's three options are mutually exclusive, and that assent may not be withheld from a re-passed bill. It prescribed outer time limits — broadly one month, extending to three where the Governor acts against ministerial advice — and held that courts may compel a decision.
- official
Seventeenth Legislative Assembly constituted
A general election to the Legislative Assembly was held in 2026 and the Seventeenth Assembly was constituted. The Assembly's own site records the Seventeenth Assembly as the sitting House, and the Chief Electoral Officer's site records the 2026 membership. Party composition and the precise poll date are not corroborated here by a primary source and are logged as unverified.
Frequently asked
- What is Tamil Nadu?
- Tamil Nadu is a state of the Indian Union, reconstituted on linguistic lines on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act and renamed from Madras State to Tamil Nadu on 14 January 1969. It had 72,147,030 residents at the 2011 Census, sends 39 members to the Lok Sabha and 18 to the Rajya Sabha, and holds the second-largest state economy in India. Its legislature has been unicameral since the Legislative Council was abolished with effect from 1 November 1986, leaving a single 234-seat Legislative Assembly at Fort St. George in Chennai. Structurally, Tamil Nadu is distinctive for its 69% reservation regime, protected from judicial challenge by placement in the Ninth Schedule in 1994, and for a sustained record of testing the constitutional limits of Union and gubernatorial authority over an elected state government.
- When was Tamil Nadu established?
- Tamil Nadu was established 1956-11-01.
- What does Tamil Nadu do?
- Its remit covers State List subjects: law and order and the state police, land and land revenue, agriculture, public health, and school and higher education, A 234-seat unicameral Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers responsible to it, A 69% reservation regime in education and public employment, insulated by the Ninth Schedule, Riparian claimant in the inter-state Kaveri (Cauvery) allocation, administered by the Cauvery Water Management Authority, One of India's most urbanised and most industrialised large state economies.
- What is the latest on Tamil Nadu?
- As of 2026-07-17: Seventeenth Legislative Assembly constituted. A general election to the Legislative Assembly was held in 2026 and the Seventeenth Assembly was constituted. The Assembly's own site records the Seventeenth Assembly as the sitting House, and the Chief Electoral Officer's site records the 2026 membership. Party composition and the precise poll date are not corroborated here by a primary source and are logged as unverified.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
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State portal: departments, Government Orders, schemes, district administration.
www.tn.gov.in/
- Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly legislation
The 234-seat unicameral House at Fort St. George; members, Speaker, business of the House.
www.assembly.tn.gov.in/
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Electoral rolls, constituencies and assembly membership records by election year.
www.elections.tn.gov.in/