The 12 months since the demise of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, on December 5, 2016, have been filled with political action in Tamil Nadu: leadership squabbles within the ruling All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), raids by the Income Tax department, splits in the party and a partial rapprochement, a high-profile court verdict, and considerable amount of trading of blames among the factions. The cumulative effect of these has been the AIADMK’s dilution of its late leader’s strongly held positions on several issues relating to the rights of Tamil Nadu.

The year also saw the emergence of M.K. Stalin as the working president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Tamil Nadu's Opposition party, as former Chief Minister and DMK president, M. Karunanidhi, is convalescing.

In the absence of the two leaders who dominated Tamil Nadu's political space for close to three decades—the late Jayalalithaa and the recuperating Karunanidhi—political parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), other smaller parties with their presence confined to the State, such as the Naam Tamizhar Katchi, and not to mention popular film stars including Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan, have begun probing for a space in the State's bipolar politics.

The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy presents a Photo Essay on the year after Jayalalithaa.