E. P. Poulose (2 October 1909 – 17 November 1983) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served in the

Kerala Legislative Assembly The Kerala Legislative Assembly, popularly known as the Kerala Niyamasabha, is the State Assembly of Kerala, one of the 28 states in India. The Assembly is formed by 140 elected representatives. Each elected member represents one of the 140 c ...

from 1957 until 1965, representing the Ramamangalam constituency. A member of 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 Em ...

, Poulose was the Minister for Food and Agriculture of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

from 1960 until 1964.

Biography

E. P. Poulose was born on 2 October 1909 in the village of

Ramamangalam Ramamangalam is a village in Ernakulam district in the Indian state of Kerala, it lies between Kolenchery, Piravom and Muvattupuzha towns. This small town lies in the Muvattupuzha taluk. Demographics India census A census is the procedu ...

, then part of the

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

. In 1933, Poulose received a law degree and began working as a lawyer. A Syrian Christian, Poulose joined the

in 1935 and became a member of the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

. Due to this affiliation, he was briefly imprisoned by British authorities in 1946. In 1948, Poulose was elected to the Travancore Legislative Assembly. In the 1957 election, Poulose stood as a candidate in the newly-established

, facing

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

candidate Parameswaran Nair in the Ramamangalam constituency. Poulose defeated Nair, receiving 20,086 votes compared to Nair's 13,588. In the 1960 Kerala Legislative Assembly election, Poulose defeated CPI candidate P. V. Abraham, receiving 32,448 votes to Abraham's 19,871. After winning re-election, Poulose was appointed Minister for Food and Agriculture in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

Pattom A. Thanu Pillai Raja Shri Pattom A. Thanu Pillai (15 July 188527 July 1970) was a participant in the Indian independence movement who later served as the chief minister of Kerala from 22 February 1960 to 25 September 1962. He was known as the 'Bhishmacharya' o ...

, the

chief minister of Kerala The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Fol ...

, on 22 February 1960. He was retained in the

of Pillai's successor,

R. Sankar R. Sankar (30 April 1909 – 7 November 1972) was an Indian politician who was the third Chief Minister of Kerala from 1962 to 1964. He was also the Deputy Chief Minister of the State from 1960 to 1962. Sankar apart from as a politician is kn ...

, after Pillai's resignation in 1962. Poulose served as minister until 10 September 1964. The following year, Poulose ran for re-election in the 1965 Kerala Legislative Assembly election, running in the

Muvattupuzha constituency Muvattupuzha () is a town in the midlands directly to the east of Kochi in Ernakulam district, Kerala, India. It is located about from downtown Kochi, and is a growing urban centre in central Kerala. The town is also the starting poin ...

. Poulose was defeated by

Kerala Congress Kerala Congress is an Indian political party founded at Kottayam, Kerala in October, 1964, by a block of former Indian National Congress leaders led by K. M. George. The party is primarily active in central Kerala. The establishment of Kerala ...

candidate A. T. Pathrose, receiving 14,659 votes to Pathrose's 18,929. During his tenure in the assembly, Poulose was an advocate for Christian traditions. In 1957, Poulose and other Christian MLAs led the opposition to the

Kerala Education Act The Education Bill was introduced in the Kerala assembly by Professor Joseph Mundasseri, who was then the education minister for the first elected (1957) Communist Party of India government. This bill was aimed at eradicating the malpractices pre ...

, a bill which proposed regulations on the educational system; the bill was strongly opposed by Christians in Kerala, as it would establish regulations on private Christian schools. The following year, Poulose opposed a bill which would repeal the 1916 Travancore Christian Succession Act, a law which codified the Christian

dowry system The dowry system in India refers to the durable goods, cash, and real or movable property that the bride's family gives to the groom, his parents and his relatives as a condition of the marriage. Dowry is referred to dahez in Hindi and as ''jahez ...

, in which Christian women who received a dowry would forfeit all claims of inheritance to their family's property. Poulose died on 17 November 1983.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Poulose, E. P. 1909 births 1983 deaths Place of death missing 20th-century Indian lawyers Indian independence activists from Kerala Kerala MLAs 1957–1959 Kerala MLAs 1960–1964 Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala State cabinet ministers of Kerala Saint Thomas Christians People from Ernakulam district People from the Kingdom of Travancore