Former actress Jayalalitha Jayaram was Saturday sworn in as chief minister of southern India's Tamil Nadu state, just five months after she was forced to step down from the post over corruption charges.

Jayalalitha took her oath of office in a colourful ceremony at the Madras University centenary hall, packed with hundreds of her political supporters.

The controversial Jayalalitha was forced to step down as chief minister in September on the grounds that she was not a sitting member of the state legislature.

She had been barred from contesting elections in Tamil Nadu last May -- in which her party swept to