1955 Pondicherry Representative Assembly election

After the de facto merger on 1 November 1954 and before the legal integration with the Indian Union on 16 August 1962, general elections were held in 1955 and 1959. So. the first general elections to the Pondicherry Representative Assembly (French: Assemblée représentative de Pondichéry) along with 16 municipal councils were held in 1955 from July 18 to 23 for 39 constituencies to constitute First Pondicherry Representative Assembly (French: Première Assemblée représentative de Pondichéry). The election were held on the basis of adult franchise under the State of Pondicherry (Representation of the People: French: Représentation du peuple) Order, 1955 which prescribed the rules and regulations for the conduct of elections, more or less on the pattern adopted in the Indian Union.[2][3] The elections were conducted under supervision of the Election commissioner Mr. Sukumar Sen and heavy polling was reported during the elections.[4]

1955 Pondicherry Representative Assembly election
18 July 1955 (1955-07-18)
All 39 seats to the Puducherry Representative Assembly
20 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Maurice Paquirissamypoullé V. Subbiah
Party INC People's Front
Leader's seat Karikovil Pathan Murungapakkam
Seats won 20 16
Percentage 37.2 35
Leader of Assembly before election

Balasupramanien[1]: 30 
INC

 Elected Leader of Assembly

Maurice Paquirissamypoullé
INC

Results

The results of 1955 elections are[5]: 75–76 

Parties and Coalitions Won Votes Votes %
 Indian National Congress 20 53,682 37.2%
 People's Front 16 51,015 35.0%
 Independents 3 37,926 27.0%

Congress barely secured a majority of 20 seats out of 39 these seats. Congress won 9 out of 12 from Karaikal, 8 out of 22 from Pondicherry, 1 out of 3 from Mahe and 2 out of 2 from Yanam. However, In Yanam, both seats won in an uncontested manner.[5]: 75–76  In Pondicherry, the Congress did not fare well. The Congress did not secure seats in Pondicherry city and the surrounding areas. All the 8 seats in Pondicherry that were won by Congress came from the liberated areas of Nettapakkam, Mannadipet (Tiroubouvané) and Bahour communes. People's Front (Communist) (Makkaḷ Munnaṇi (Tamil:மக்கள் முன்னணி)) won 13 seats out of 22 from Pondicherry and 3 seats out of 12 seats from Karaikal. However, three members who won on People's Front ticket joined Congress later.[5]: 64 

Members of the 1955 Pondicherry Representative Assembly

Source: [2]: 494 

Members of the first Pondicherry Representative Assembly
S. NoNameConstituencyRegionParty
1 Annousamy Ariankuppam Pondicherry P.F.[note 1]
2 Arun Muthialpet Pondicherry P.F.
3 Arunachalam Darbaranyeswarar Koil Karikal Congress
4 Ravi Oulgaret Town Pondicherry P.F.
5 Barathidasan Cassicade Pondicherry P.F.[note 2]
6 C. E. Barathan Mahe Town Mahe Congress
7 Chandrasekhara Chettiar Archivak–Tavalacoupom Pondicherry Congress
8 D.Rathinasabapathy Pillai Neravy Commune Karikal Congress
9 Édouard Goubert Bahour Pondicherry Congress
10 Evariste Dessame Karikal South Karikal P.F.
11 Govindaraju Nellitope Town Pondicherry P.F.
12 Joseph Latour Ouppalaom Pondicherry P.F.
13 K. Sheikh Dawood Maricar Karikal Town North Karikal Congress
14 K.S.V. Prasadarao Naidu[note 3] Yanam[note 4] Yanam Congress
15 Louis Savarih Villenour Town Pondicherry Ind.[note 5]
16 M.M.Hussein Fifth Bussy Street Pondicherry P.F.
17 Mohamed Yusoof Karikal Central Karikal Ind.
18 Padmanabhan Palloor Mahe Ind.
19 Murugaswamy Clemanso Couroussou Coupom Pondicherry P.F.
20 N. Sethuraman Chettiar Rajbhavan Pondicherry Ind.
21 N. Ranganathan Saram and Lawspet Pondicherry P.F.
22 Pakkir Mohammed Oussoudou Pondicherry P.F.
23 P. Shanmugam Nedungadu Karikal P.F.
24 Ramalingam Calapet Pondicherry Congress
25 R.L. Purushottam Reddiar Kuruvinattam-Kariambuttur Pondicherry Congress
26 S. Dakshinamoorthy Mudaliar Thirumalarayanpattinam South Karikal Congress
27 Thandapani Kounder Mannadipet Town Pondicherry Congress
28 Thiagaraja Naicker Embaralam-Kalamandapam Pondicherry Congress
29 Thirukamu Reddi Sellipet-Souttoukeny Pondicherry Congress
30 T. Srinivasa Pillai Thirumeni Alagar Karikal Congress
31 U. Rangaswamy Pillai Thirumalayapattinam North Karikal Congress
32 Venkatasubba Reddiar Nettapakkam Town Pondicherry Congress
33 V.N.Purushottamari Pandakkal Mahe Ind.
34 V.Narayanaswamy Reddiarpalayam Town Pondicherry P.F.
35 V.Ramalingam Pillai Badrakaliamman Karikal Congress
36 V.Ramaswamy Pillai Kottuchery-Mathakovil Karikal Congress
37 V. Subbiah Murugapakkam Pondicherry Congress
38 Y. Jagannadha Rao[note 6] Yanam[note 7] Yanam Congress
39 M. Pakkiriswamy Pillai† [note 8] Karikovil Pathan Karikal Congress

† After the Death of Pakkiriswamy Pillai, his seat fell vacant in Karaikkal in 1956. Later a by election was conducted and P. Shanmugam got elected as the sixth councillor from Karaikkal. [7]: 97  Shanmugam was an erstwhile People's Front member from Nedungadu constituency.

Government formation

On 9 August 1955 Then chief commissioner of Pondicherry, Mr. Kewal Singh also informed the leaders of the both Congress and People's Frony parties that unlike his predecessors during French rule, he would refrain from using his powers to nominate half of the six-membered Government-in-council (equivalent to council of ministries in Indian state assemblies). He assured that the assembly members can elect all the six members.[4]


On 12th August 1955, chief commissioner then invited the Congress led by Maurice Pakkirisami Pillai for the formation of government.[8]: 28  Thus, the Congress with the support of independents was able to form a Government. The chief opposition party was the Communist (i.e. People's Front) with 12 seats.

On 26th August 1955, putting into rest any speculations about merger with neighbouring states, the first Pondicherry Representative Assembly demanded that Pondicherry should remain as a separate state within India.

Cabinet

Initially, Maurice Pakkiriswamy Pillai led the Pondicherry Representative Assembly from 17 August 1955[9] until his death in January 1956.[10]: 64–65 [11] Then, a five-member new cabinet was formed and led by Édouard Goubert. It had Eduard Goubert, Chandrasekhara Chettiar, Mohammed Yusoof, S. Dakshinamoorthy Mudaliar and Thiagraja Naicker.

Aftermath

However, the government was not stable. There were frequent crossings of the floor by the Legislators, and the ruling party was ridden with personal strifes and factions.[12] The Government of India had to intervene finally by dissolving the Assembly and the Chief Commissioner, L.R.S. Singh, took over the administration on 28 October 1958.[13]: 966  Later, after nine months, elections were held in 1959.

See also

Notes
  1. i.e. People's Front
  2. i.e. Won on P.F. ticket, but, among three who joined Congress after elections
  3. i.e. Elected uncontested
  4. i.e. Kanakalpeta constituency
  5. i.e. Independent
  6. i.e. Elected uncontested
  7. i.e. Adi Andhrapeta constituency
  8. i.e. The seat fell vacant after Pakkiriswamy Pillai's death in January 1956.[6]

References
  1. D.Banerjea (2005). Criminal Justice India Series: Pondicherry. Vol. 20. Allied Publishers. ISBN 9788177648713.
  2. "India, A Reference Annual 1956". Publications Division. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. 1956.
  3. G.C.Malhotra (1964). Cabinet Responsibility to Legislature. Metropolitan Book Co. Pvt. Ltd. p. 464. ISBN 9788120004009.
  4. "Indian Recorder & Digest, Volumes 1 to 2". Diwan Chand Indian Information Centre. 1955. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  5. Shriman Narayan, K.P.Madhavan Nair (1956). "Report Of The General Secretaries". Indian National Congress.
  6. R. V. Krishna Ayyar (1956). "All India Election Guide". Oriental Publishers. pp. 167, 464.
  7. S.P. Mehra (1956). Civic Affairs, Volume 4, Issues 1-6. Citizen Press at Kanpur.
  8. "Indian Affairs Record (Vol. I and II)". Diwan Chand Indian Information Center. 1955.
  9. A. Moin Zaidi (1976). "The Encyclopaedia of Indian National Congress". S. Chand Publications. p. 229.
  10. Shriman Narayan, K.P.Madhavan Nair (1956). Report Of The General Secretaries. Indian National Congress. ISBN 9788120004009.
  11. Jawaharlal Nehru (1961). "Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru" (PDF). Oxford University Press. p. 156.
  12. K. K., Rajagopalan (September 12, 1959). "Pondicherry Assembly Elections An Analysis" (PDF). The Economic Weekly. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  13. G. C. Malhotra (2004). Cabinet Responsibility to Legislature. Lok Sabha Secretariat. ISBN 9788120004009.
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