Tamil Nadu has seen several chief ministers who, after serving in office, went on to lose in the next assembly election they contested. The list spans different eras and parties, reflecting shifting political currents in the state.
K. Kamaraj, who served as chief minister from 1954 to 1963 for the Congress, lost the 1967 election from Virudhunagar to DMK candidate Srinivasan by 1,285 votes. His successor M. Bhaktavatsalam, chief minister from 1963 to 1967, was defeated in 1967 from Sriperumbudur by DMK’s Rajarathinam by 8,926 votes.
Janaki Ramachandran, who served as AIADMK chief minister for 23 days in 1988, lost the 1989 election from Andipatti to DMK’s Aasian by 4,221 votes. J. Jayalalithaa, who was chief minister from 1991 to 1996, was defeated in the 1996 election from Bargur by DMK’s Sugavanam by 8,366 votes.
The report also notes that M.K. Stalin, who served as chief minister from 2021 to 2026, lost the 2026 election from Kolathur—where he had earlier won three times—to TVK candidate V.S. Babu by 8,795 votes, and his party also lost the election.
Outside Tamil Nadu, it highlights mixed outcomes for sitting chief ministers: Puducherry CM N. Rangasamy won from Mangalam by defeating DMK’s S.S. Rangan by 7,050 votes and also won from Thattanchavadi; Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma won from Jalukbari by defeating Congress candidate Bitisha Neog by 89,434 votes; Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan won from Dharmadam by 19,247 votes against Congress candidate Abdul Rasheed, though his party lost power to the Congress-led UDF. It also states that West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee lost from Bhabanipur in Kolkata to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari by 15,114 votes and that her party suffered a heavy defeat.
