During the four parliamentary terms of its existence, it was represented by three members of parliament.
The 1981 census had shown that the North Island had experienced further population growth, and three additional general seats were created through the 1983 electoral redistribution, bringing the total number of electorates to 95.
[1] The South Island had, for the first time, experienced a population loss, but its number of general electorates was fixed at 25 since the 1967 electoral redistribution.
Noel Scott of the Labour Party was the Tongariro electorate's first representative;[5] Scott had in 1981 unsuccessfully contested the adjacent Tarawera electorate.
[6] Scott was defeated in Tongariro in the 1990 election by National's Ian Peters, who held the electorate for one parliamentary term before himself being defeated by Labour's Mark Burton in 1993.