[6] In the previous election in 2011, AIADMK, under the leadership of Jayalalithaa, won a thumping majority and formed the government, while DMDK chief Vijayakanth served as the Leader of Opposition until January 2016.

[7] A special purification drive of electoral rolls between 15 and 29 February 2016 in all poll-bound States including Tamil Nadu was held, in which door-to-door verification was undertaken involving booth-level agents.

On 12 February 2016, Election Commission of India announced that 17 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu will have Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines attached along with EVMs.

[18] The elections in Kerala and Puducherry also took place on 16 May[19] but polling in two of the Tamil Nadu constituencies was postponed due to reports of voters being bribed.

[29] Gopi Shankar Madurai, a 25 years old gender activist made a bid to contest as one of the youngest candidates in the Tamil Nadu Assembly election and also the first openly Intersex & Genderqueer person to do so.

Gopi contested on the ticket of newly launched outfit Anaithu Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) for Madurai North.

[36] On 23 March 2016, Naam Tamilar Katchi published its 316-page election manifesto 2016, a complete plan to develop Tamil Nadu.

[43] Parts of Tamil Nadu received heavy rain on the polling day, but it did not deter voters from turning out to cast their votes.

[44][45] The ruling AIADMK, beating most of the exit polls,[52][53] was able to retain power with a comfortable majority and became the first party to win consecutive elections since 1984, a feat achieved by M. G. Ramachandran.

Elections were held later there on 26 October 2016 [58][59] On 3 May, News 7 and Dinamalar released an opinion poll giving an edge for DMK over AIADMK.

[citation needed] The Election Commission postponed the polls in Aravakurichi and Thanjavur constituencies due to reports of distribution of huge sums of money and alcohol to voters.