In a surprising turn of events, the AIADMK, led by the charismatic Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, defied the odds presented by opinion polls and secured a victory by winning 134 seats out of 234.
Within days of her election, Sasikala faced a legal setback, as she was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison, rendering her ineligible for the Chief Minister's position.
The Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, responding to a complaint from the Government Whip, disqualified all of them, with the exception of MLA Jakkaiyan, who was acquitted after submitting a letter of apology.
The 18 disqualified MLAs appealed to the Judiciary to nullify the Speaker's decision, with the last verdict from the division bench of Madras High Court coming against them in January 2019.
They then decided to fight the by-elections as candidates of the newly formed Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam alongside the Lok Sabha elections, rather let it sit at the Supreme Court of India.
In addition to the political turbulence, the AIADMK faced another setback when ADMK minister P. Balakrishna Reddy was convicted in an old arson case.
Karunanidhi's significant contributions to the state's governance and his longstanding influence on the DMK left an indelible mark on Tamil Nadu's political history.
Continuing the sequence of unfortunate events, in 2019, the AIADMK mourned the demise of MLA Kanagaraj in Sulur due to a heart attack.
As the 2016 elections approached, the incumbent AIADMK government, armed with 112 MLAs, found itself six seats short of a majority to sustain its administration for the remaining two years.
Source - Election Commission of India[3] Following the by-elections, the AIADMK successfully secured 11 seats, bringing their single strength to 123 and thus reaffirming its position as the ruling party.
Despite the DMK's significant success in the Lok Sabha elections and the by-elections, winning 39 out of 40 seats (39 in Tamil Nadu and one in Pondicherry), their state-level influence did not experience a substantial shift.