The second legislative assembly election to the
Madras state
Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and ...
(presently
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
) was held on 31 March 1957. This was the first election held after the linguistic reorganization of Madras state in 1954.
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
and its leader
K. Kamaraj
Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...
won the election, and defeated its rival
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 ...
. In 1954, due to the resignation of
C. Rajagopalachari
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activis ...
, for his controversial
Kula Kalvi Thittam, the leadership of Congress was contested, between
K. Kamaraj
Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...
, and
C. Subramaniam (who got the support of
M. Bhaktavatsalam
Minjur Bhakthavatsalam (9 October 1897 – 13 February 1987) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the chief minister of Madras State from 2 October 1963 to 6 March 1967. He was the last Congress chief minister of Ta ...
). Eventually,
K. Kamaraj
Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...
, won the support of the party, was elected leader and chief minister of Madras State in 1954. In a surprise move, he appointed both
M. Bhaktavatsalam
Minjur Bhakthavatsalam (9 October 1897 – 13 February 1987) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the chief minister of Madras State from 2 October 1963 to 6 March 1967. He was the last Congress chief minister of Ta ...
and
C. Subramaniam, in his cabinet, allowing great unity amongst Congress, that ruled the state of
Madras, for the next decade. This election saw future DMK leaders,
M. Karunanidhi and
K. Anbazhagan
Kalyanasundaram Anbazhagan (19 December 1922 – 7 March 2020) was an Indian Tamil politician. He was a long-standing leader of the Dravidian movement and was the General Secretary of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party (DMK) for nine terms. He h ...
winning their first MLA seat in the legislative assembly.
Delimitation and reorganisation
On 1 October 1953, a separate
Andhra State
Andhra State (IAST: ; ) was a state in India created in 1953 from the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras State. The state was made up of this two distinct cultural regions – Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra. Andhra State did not incl ...
consisting of the Telugu-speaking areas of the composite Madras State was formed and the Kannada-speaking area of
Bellary
Bellary, officially Ballari, in the eponymous Bellary district, is a city in the state of Karnataka, India.
History
Bellary was a part of Rayalaseema (Ceded Districts) which was part of Madras Presidency till 1 November 1956.
The Ballari ...
District was merged with the then
Mysore State
Mysore State, colloquially Old Mysore, was a state within the Dominion of India and the later India, Republic of India from 1947 until 1956. The state was formed by renaming the Kingdom of Mysore, and Bangalore replaced Mysore as the state's c ...
. This reduced the strength of the Legislative Assembly to 231.
On 1 November 1956, the States Reorganisation Act 1956 took effect and consequently the constituencies in the erstwhile
Malabar district
Malabar District, also known as Malayalam District, was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792-1800) and Madras Presidency (1800-1947) in British India, and independent India's Madras State (19 ...
were merged with the
Kerala State. This further reduced the strength to 190. The Tamil-speaking area of Kerala (present day
Kanyakumari
Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland Ind ...
district) and
Shenkottah
Sengottai (also known as Shencottah, Chenkotta or Shenkottai) is a town in the Tenkasi district, of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the gateway to southern Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Spread over an area of 2.68 km2 with a population of over 26,823, t ...
taluk were added to Madras State.
According to the new Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order 1956, made by the Delimitation Commission of India under the provisions of the State Reorganisation Act, 1956, the strength of the Madras Legislative Assembly was increased to 205.
[ The 1957 elections were conducted for these 205 seats. In 1959, as result of The Andhra Pradesh and Madras (Alteration of Boundaries) Act 1959, one member from the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly was allotted to Madras increasing its Legislative Assembly strength to 206.][
]
Two member constituencies
Out of the total 167 constituencies in the state, 38 were two member constituencies 37 of which had one reserved for Scheduled caste candidates and 1 for Scheduled tribe
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
candidate.[The State Legislature - Origin and Evolution]
These constituencies were larger in size and had greater number of voters (more than 1,00,000) when compared to general constituencies. Two separate list of candidates, a general list and a reserved list, contested in those constituencies. Each voter had to cast two votes - one for each list.
The two winners were chosen as follows:
* Reserved Member - Candidate with the most votes among the reserved (SC/ST) list candidates
* General Member - Candidate with the most votes among the rest of the candidates excluding the Reserved Member (including both reserved and general lists).
This system led to anomalies. In some cases like the Coimbatore - II constituency in the 1957 election, both elected members belonged to the reserved list - the candidate with second highest number of votes in reserved list secured more votes than the highest vote getter in the general list. Multiple members were elected only in the 1952 and 1957 elections as double member representation was abolished in 1961 by the enactment of Two-Member Constituencies Abolition Act (1961).
Parties and issues
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
, Communist Party of India, Forward Bloc
The All India Forward Bloc ( AIFB) is a left-wing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The party re-established as an independent political party ...
, Praja Socialist Party, Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
, Congress Reform Committee
{{Use Indian English, date=July 2020
The Congress Reform Committee (CRC) was formed by a group of dissidents that left the Indian National Congress in the Madras State. The CRC was led by C. Rajagopalachari, who had been defeated by Kamaraj in the ...
(Indian National Democratic Congress) and 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) were the major parties contesting this election. This was the first election contested by the DMK since its formation in 1949. The decision to contest elections was taken in 1956 at the party's Trichy conference. The party fielded its candidates in 8 Parliamentary and 117 assembly seats as independents, since it was not an officially recognised party. The increased Tamilian character of the Congress party after the appointment of K. Kamaraj
Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...
, a non-Brahman as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, robbed DMK of its main electoral plank as the sole proponent of Tamil nationalism. It increasingly changed its focus to economic issues and slower industrialisation of the South as an election issue. The DMK election manifesto had a socialist image and creation of Dravida Nadu
:''Dravida Nadu was also the name of a Tamil language publication started by C. N. Annadurai.''
Dravida Nadu is the name of a proposed sovereign state demanded by the Justice Party led by the founder of the self-respect movement, E.V. Ramasamy ...
became a side issue as it had implicitly accepted the prevailing constitutional order.
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy issued a statement in support of K. Kamaraj before the commencement of the election. In October 1956, the central executive of Dravidar Kazhagam
Dravidar Kazhagam is a social movement founded by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, also called Thanthai Periyar. Its original goals were to eradicate the ills of the existing caste system including untouchability and on a grander scale to obtain a " ...
resolved to support K. Kamaraj.
Since Mr. Kamaraj has done his best to serve the Tamilians, since he has changed Acharyar's educational system designed to perpetuate the caste system, since he has conferred many jobs and many benefits on Tamilians in the educational and other spheres and since the Brahman and DMK people are trying to oust him from power, it has become the duty of all Tamilians to support Mr. Kamaraj and his followers in the election
K. Kamaraj accepted the support of Dravidar kazhagam and said if the Kazhagam canvassed vote for him out of their own free will, he could not possibly tell them he did not want their votes. He also made it clear that Congress party can not support a party which is communal in nature and he did not in any way share E. V. Ramasamy's views.[''The Hindu'' (6 March 1957)]
K. Kamaraj
Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...
's decision to accept the support and provide candidacy to some former members of Dravidar Kazhagam
Dravidar Kazhagam is a social movement founded by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, also called Thanthai Periyar. Its original goals were to eradicate the ills of the existing caste system including untouchability and on a grander scale to obtain a " ...
caused division within Congress resulting in a new party called, Congress Reform Committee (CRC). Though the party was created in the last moment, it fielded candidates in 12 parliamentary and 55 assembly seats.
Voting and results
Source: Election Commission of India
!colspan=9,
, - style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;"
! class="unsortable" ,
! Political party !! Flag !! Seats
Contested !! Won !! % of
Seats
! Votes !! Vote % !! Change in
vote %
, - style="background: #90EE90;"
,
, style="text-align:left;" , Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
,
, 204 , , 151 (1) , , 73.66 , , 50,46,576 , , 45.34 , , 10.46
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" , Communist Party of India
,
, 58 , , 4 (58) , , 1.95 , , 8,23,582 , , 7.40 , , 5.78
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" , Praja Socialist Party
,
, 23 , , 2 (''New'') , , 0.98 , , 2,93,778 , , 2.64 , , ''New''
, -
,
,
, 602 , , 48 ( 14) , , 23.41 , , 49,67,060 , , 44.62 , , N/A
, - class="unsortable" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
! colspan = 3,
! style="text-align:center;" , Total Seats !! 205 (170) !! style="text-align:center;" , Voters !! 2,39,05,575 !! style="text-align:center;" , Turnout !! colspan = 2, 1,11,30,996 (46.56%)
DMK was not officially recognized as a party by the Election commission of India until 1962, so they were registered as an Independent party. Congress Reform Committee was the second and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was the third party in the assembly. Congress won 45% vote share, CRC 8% and DMK 14%.
By constituency
Kamaraj's second cabinet
Kamaraj's council of ministers during his second tenure as chief minister (1 April 1957 – 1 March 1962)
See also
* Elections in Tamil Nadu
Elections in Tamil Nadu are conducted every five years to elect the State assembly and its share of members to the Lok Sabha. There are 234 assembly constituencies and 39 Lok Sabha constituencies. The state has conducted 15 assembly elections ...
* Legislature of Tamil Nadu
The Tamil Nadu Legislature is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Legislature is composed of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and the Governor of Tamil Nadu
Until 1 November 1986, the Tamil Nadu Legislature was a b ...
* Government of Tamil Nadu
Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, l ...
Footnotes and references
External links
Election Commission of India
{{Tamil Nadu assembly elections, state=expanded
State Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu
Madras
1950s in Madras State
March 1957 events in Asia