Ariyalur is administered by a municipality established in 1994. As of 2011, the municipality covered an area of 7.62 km2 (2.94 sq mi) and had a population of 28,902. Ariyalur comes under the Ariyalur assembly constituency which elects a member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly once every five years and it is a part of the Chidambaram constituency which elects its Member of Parliament (MP) once in five years. 