M. Ramachandran is an Indian politician belong to Pinnaiyur West near Orathanadu who was served as the

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...

(MLA) for Orathanadu constituency in the 15th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Ramachandran was elected from the Orathanadu constituency in the 2016 state assembly elections as a candidate of the

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; DMK) is a political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu where it is currently the ruling party having a comfortable majority without coalition support and the union territory of Puducherry where it is curre ...

(DMK) party. In winning the seat, he defeated the incumbent MLA and Minister for Housing and Agriculture, R. Vaithilingam, in what was described as a giant-killing outcome. Vaithilingam had won the seat, which was largely dependent on agriculture, in the previous three elections, while Ramachandran was a late entry as a candidate in the election, being nominated by the DMK as a replacement for the party's original choice of S. S. Rajkumar in April of election year. Rajkumar, a brother of S. S. Palanimanickam, had decided that

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

was the only constituency for which he was prepared to stand. Ramachandran was previously elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from the Thiruvonam constituency in the

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

and 1996 elections. He lost the contest for the seat in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

and 2001. In 2006, the DMK were involved in an electoral pact which meant that he was not allowed to stand as a candidate. The party's decision to stand aside in favour of a candidate from the

Pattali Makkal Katchi Paattali Makkal Katchi (; PMK) is a political party in Tamil Nadu, India, founded by S. Ramadoss in 1989 for the Vanniyars, a caste in northern Tamil Nadu. It is currently part of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). It contests t ...

was met with protests from local supporters of Ramachandran.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Tamil Nadu MLAs 1996–2001 Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam politicians Tamil Nadu MLAs 2016–2021 {{DMK-politician-stub