Elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Indian Union Territory of

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

took place on 23 August 1964 to constitute the Second Assembly of Pondicherry.Rahman, S. A.
The Beautiful India. Pondicherry
'. New Delhi: Reference Press, 2006. pp. 138–139 These were the first Legislative Assembly elections after the formation of the new Union Territory. The elections marked the end of the rule of Edouard Goubert in Pondicherry.

Outgoing Assembly

The outgoing Legislative Assembly had 39 members (out of whom 25 belonged to the

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 ...

, 11 to the People's Front (''Makkaḷ Munnaṇi'' (

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

:மக்கள் முன்னணி), 1 to the Praja Socialist Party and 2 independents).

Delimitation

As per The Union Territories Act, 1963, thirty members would be elected through direct suffrage.Grover, Verinder, and Ranjana Arora.
Encyclopaedia of India and Her States
'. Vol. 10. New Delhi

ndia Ndia or NDIA may refer to: * Ndia Constituency, Kirinyaga District, Central Province, Kenya *Alternative name for the Southern Kirinyaga dialect of the Kikuyu language *National Defense Industrial Association, an American trade association * Natio ...

Deep & Deep, 1996. p. 11Election Commission of India.
STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1964 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF PONDICHERRY
'' Before the Elections to the Pondicherry Legislative Assembly were held in August 1964, the constituencies were delimited by the Delimitation Commission (as per Delimitation Commission Act, 1962) and the entire territory was divided into 30 single-member constituencies-21 for Pondicherry region, 6 for Karaikal region, 2 for Mahe region and 1 for Yanam region. Out of these 5 seats were reserved for

Scheduled Castes 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 ...

, four in Pondicherry region and one in Karaikal region.

Contenders

A total of 85 candidates contested the election. Three of the candidates were women ( Saraswathi Subbiah of the People's Front, P. Angammal and Padmini Chandrasekaran from the Congress Party).

Congress Party

In the run-up to the election, there was dissent within the local unit of the

over the nomination of candidates. Until these polls

Édouard Goubert Édouard Goubert (29 July 1894 – 14 August 1979) was mayor and first chief minister of Pondicherry between 1 July 1963 and 11 September 1964. Initially a strongly pro-French leader, he later shifted towards the pro-merger Indian National Co ...

had maintained control over the local Congress Party apparatus. Goubert had been pro-colonialist who had switched sides just as French power ended in Pondicherry. He had survived politically through political intrigues and maintaining the image that he could keep the communists from seizing power in the Union Territory. Now a group led by V. Venkatasubha Reddiar challenged his hegemony. Reddiar had been the Minister of Planning in the Pondicherry cabinet since 1954, and enjoyed the support by a sector of contractors and bootleggers.

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) ...

, the president of the Congress Party in 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 ...

, was called on to heal the split.Seminar on State Politics in India, Iqbal Narain, D. B. Mathur, and Sushil Kumar.
State Politics in India
'. Meerut: Meenakshi Prakashan, 1967. pp. 534–535 The Madras State Minister for Industries R. Venkataraman (acting on behalf of the

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...

) was assigned the task to ensure that the party was reunited for the polls.
Report of the General Secretary
'. Indian National Congress. All India Congress Committee. 1965. p. 59 The AICC wholeheartedly sided with Reddiar. Effectively Goubert's group was marginalised in the process. The Congress Party contested all 30 seat in the election. However, Goubert organised some of his sympathizers to contest as independents. In total there were 38 independent candidates, including Goubert's followers.

People's Front

Apart from the intra-Congress conflict, the main contender was the communist-led People's Front. The People's Front contested 17 out of the 30 seats.

Result

The Congress Party candidates obtained 91,338 votes (54.3%), the People's Front 30,495 votes (18.2%) and independents gathered 46,218 votes (27.58%). One candidate, Kamishetty Sri Parasurama Vara Prasada Rao Naidu (Congress), was elected unopposed from the

Yanam Yanam (Telugu: ''యానాం'') is a town located in the Yanam district in Puducherry. It has a population of 35,000 and is entirely surrounded by Andhra Pradesh. It was formerly a French colony for nearly 200 years, and, though united ...

constituency. 17 out of the 22 Congress candidates elected belonged to the Reddiar group, the remaining five were part of the Goubert group. Another three pro-Goubert independents were elected. Reddiar himself won the Nettapacom seat with 4,965 votes (83.54% of the votes in the constituency). Goubert won the Raj Nivas seat, with 2,722 votes (78.47%) A fourth independent (unaffiliated with Goubert) also emerged victorious. Four People's Front candidates were elected, a result which was seen as a backlash for the communists. Amongst the elected People's Front members was V. Subbiah, who won the Modeliarpeth seat with 3,878 votes (51.80%). The results of 1964 election were summarized below

List of winners

Election of CM

A meeting of the members of Pondicherry Congress Legislature Party to elect its new Leader was held on 31 August 1964. R. Venkatraman, then Minister of Industries, Madras was presentin the meeting as Observer of the AICC. VenkataSubba Reddiar elected was unanimously elected Leader.

New assembly and cabinet

After the election the Congress Party formed a four-member cabinet led by Reddiar. Likewise Reddiar was elected, unanimously, as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the new assembly.

References

Notes

{{Puducherry elections

State Assembly elections in Puducherry 1960s in Pondicherry