1st Pondicherry Representative Assembly

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. In January 1955, The Indian union government renamed the French settlements in India as State of Pondicherry by passing an order.[1]: 20  The previous assembly that was elected during French rule was dissolved on 13 June 1955 and the first general elections to the Pondicherry Representative Assembly were held in next month from 18 to 23 July for 39 constituencies. 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]

1st Representative Assembly of Pondicherry
←Second Representative Assembly of French India Second Pondicherry Representative Assembly→
Assembly Building, rue Victor Simonel, Puducherry, India
Overview
Legislative bodyPondicherry Representative Assembly
Term17 August 1955 (1955-08-17) – 28 October 1958 (1958-10-28)
Election1955 Pondicherry Representative Assembly election
GovernmentIndian National Congress
OppositionPeople's Front
Members39

Important members

Members of the First Pondicherry Representative Assembly as of 1956
Party Name Members
 Indian National Congress 22
 People's Front 12
 Independents 5

Keys:   Congress (22)   People's Front (P.F.) (12)   Independent (5)

Members of the First Pondicherry Representative Assembly
S. NoNameConstituencyCommuneRegionParty
1 Annousamy Ariankuppam Ariancoupom Pondicherry P.F.
2 Arul Raj Muthialpet Pondicherry Pondicherry P.F.
3 Arunachalam Darbaranyeswarar Koil Tirnoular Karikal Congress
4 Asappu Bairavasamy Oulgaret Town Oulgaret Pondicherry P.F.
5 Barathidasan Cassicade Pondicherry Pondicherry Congress[note 5]
6 C. E. Barathan Mahe Town Mahe Mahe Congress
7 Chandrasekhara Chettiar Archivak–Tavalacoupom Ariancoupom Pondicherry Congress
8 D.Rathinasabapathy Pillai Néravy Commune Néravy Karikal Congress
9 Édouard Goubert Bahour Bahour Pondicherry Congress
10 Evariste Dessame Karikal South Karikal Karikal P.F.
11 Govindaraju Nellitope Town Modéliarpeth Pondicherry P.F.
12 Joseph Latour Ouppalaom Pondicherry Pondicherry P.F.
13 K. Sheikh Dawood Maricar Karikal Town North Karikal Karikal Congress
14 K.S.V. Prasadarao Naidu Yanam[note 6] Yanaon Yanam Congress
15 Louis Savarih Villenour Town Villenour Pondicherry Ind.
16 M.M.Hussein Fifth Bussy Street Pondicherry Pondicherry P.F.
17 Mohamed Yusoof Karikal Central Karikal Karikal Ind.
18 Padmanabhan Palloor Mahé Mahe Ind.
19 Murugaswamy Clemanso Couroussou Coupom Pondicherry Pondicherry P.F.
20 N. Sethuraman Chettiar Rajbhavan Pondicherry Pondicherry Ind.
21 N. Ranganathan Saram and Lawspet Oulgaret Pondicherry P.F.
22 Pakkir Mohammed Oussoudou Villenour Pondicherry P.F.
23 Shanmugam Nedungadu Neduncadou Karikal P.F.
24 Ramalingam Calapet Oulgaret Pondicherry Congress
25 R.L. Purushottam Reddiar Kuruvinattam-Kariambuttur Bahour Pondicherry Congress
26 S. Dakshinamoorthy Mudaliar Thirumalarayanpattinam South Grand Aldée Karikal Congress
27 Thandapani Kounder Mannadipet Town Tiroubouvané Pondicherry Congress
28 Thiagaraja Naicker Embaralam-Kalamandapam Nettapacom Pondicherry Congress
29 Thirukamu Reddi Sellipet-Souttoukeny Tiroubouvané Pondicherry Congress
30 T. Srinivasa Pillai Thirumeni Alagar Cotchéry Karikal Congress
31 U. Rangaswamy Pillai Thirumalayapattinam North Grand Aldée Karikal Congress
32 Venkatasubba Reddiar Nettapakkam Town Nettapacom Pondicherry Congress
33 V.N.Purushottaman Pandakkal Mahe Mahe Ind.
34 V.Narayanaswamy Reddiarpalayam Town Oulgaret Pondicherry P.F.
35 V.Ramalingam Pillai Badrakaliamman Kovil Tirnoular Karikal Congress
36 V.Ramaswamy Pillai Kottuchery-Mathakovil Cotchéry Karikal Congress
37 V. Subbiah Murugapakkam Modéliarpeth Pondicherry P.F.
38 Y.Jagannadha Rao Yanam[note 7] Yanaon 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.[5]: 97  Shanmugam was an erstwhile People's Front member from Nedungadu constituency.[6]: 99 

Council of ministers of Goubert(1956-1958)

After death of Pakkirisamy a Council of ministers was formed under leadership of Edouard Goubert. Lt Governor during that time was Kewal Singh. The speaker of assembly was initially A. S. Gangeyan and was replaced by Kamichetty Parasuram.[12]: 494 

Minister Portfolio
Édouard Goubert
Chief minister		 N.A.
Chandrasekhara Chettiar N.A.
C. E. Barathan N.A.
Mohammad Yussoof N.A.
S. Dakshinamoorthy Mudaliar N.A.
Thiagaraja Naicker N.A.

Later Shanmugam related Barathan in the council of ministers (also referred as advisory council to the commissioner) and the composition was as follows:[13]

Minister Portfolio
Édouard Goubert
Chief minister		 Public Works, Industries and Labour
Chandrasekhara Chettiar Port, Fisheries, Co-operation, Electricity
Shanumugam Agriculture, Rural Development etc.
Mohammad Yussoof Revenue, Veterinary & Information
S. Dakshinamoorthy Mudaliar N.A.
Thiagaraja Naicker Local Administration, Transport & Information

Important proceedings
  • On 12 August 1955, the assembly passed a resolution demanding immediate de jure transfer of the state from France to Indian Union. This resolution was passed with huge majority. However, because of the Algerian war, the de jure transfer did not take place until August 1962.[1]: 27 
  • On 26 August 1955, the assembly demanded that the State of Pondicherry be kept a separate state within the Indian Union. The demand was accepted later and Puducherry is a union territory comprising the French settlements of Puducherry, Karaikkal, Mahe and Yanam.[1]: 29 

Instability

Untimely death of the chief councillor Pakkirisamy Pillai in January 1956 started a saga of infighting among the members of Congress Party.

1956 crisis

First instance of serious infighting arouse during April 1956 which continued for four months and ended after election of Kamisetty Parasuram as the new speaker of the assembly. Congress assembly legislative party was divided about the successor of Pakkirisamy Pillai as chief councillor (a post equivalent of chief minister in Indian state assemblies). The major faction was headed Goubert and the minor faction was led by Purushothama Reddiar who had four members supporting his cause.

Election of Goubert as Chief councillor

On 20 April 1956 Goubert was elected unanimously when the Puroshathama Reddiar's faction abstained from that meeting. This issue became a scandal that attracted the attention of then Indian prime minister Nehru and Madras chief minister Kamaraj. Nehru has mentioned about it in his works. After Late Pakkirisamy's seat from Karaikal was vacant, the strength of Goubert's group got reduced from 18 to 19. The Congress party position in the Assembly was as follows: Congress-18, People's Front-15, Congress dissidents led by Reddiar's faction-5. Thus, without support of Reddiar's faction the Goubert's government could not survive as it falls below the halfway mark of 20 in a house of 39.[9]

Removal of Purushothama Reddiar as Speaker

On 23 April Purushothama Reddiar resigned from Congress party. He along with four other dissidents joined the opposition. After he left the assembly by declaring sine die along with his dissidents, the deputy speaker Kamichetty Parasuram was asked to act as speaker and Purushothama Reddiar got removed from speaker post unanimously in an unceremonious way.[5]: 99 

The speaker election was necessitated as Puroshottama Reddiar was about to retire as speaker as he along with four dissidents joined the opposition. In April, the dissident group moved away from Congress and voted along People's Front (i.e. the opposition party). Kamisetty Parasuram got elected with support of all the 26 members of the Congress party.[5]: 97 

1958 crisis

In another instance, the rivalry between two congress factions peaked in August 1958 and this time it was much severe. The former faction is headed by E. Goubert, the leader of the house and Rangaswami Pillai, leader of the dissident group. The dissidents had a strength of 10 members. This rift got deepened when the dissidents joined the Communist-backed People's Front to elect the Assembly's office bearers (i.e. ministers). Then president of INC, U. N. Dhebar tried to broker peace between the two rival groups in Delhi on 31 August 1958. The main bone of contention between the two factions was over the formation of Council of six ministers. The Congress president had suggested Rangaswami and another dissident in his group, Arul Raj that the disciplinary action taken against them shall be withdrawn, provided some compromise is brought between the two faction to bring back unity. Then chief minister of Madras, K. Kamaraj was suggested to intervene to sort out this issue.[14]: 109  But the deadlock remained leading to the intervention of the commissioner.

Early dissolution

The government led by Congress was not stable as the ruling party was ridden with personal strifes and factions. Finally, the Government of India had to intervene finally by dissolving the Assembly following the instability caused by the change of party affiliation of members. Then, the Chief Commissioner took over the administration in October 1958. Later, after nine months, second general elections were held to the Pondicherry Representative Assembly in 1959.[15]

See also

References
  1. "Indian Affairs Record (Vol. I and II)". Diwan Chand Indian Information Center. 1955.
  2. "India, A Reference Annual 1956". Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Publications Division. 1956. p. 494.
  3. Cabinet Responsibility to Legislature. 1964. p. 464. ISBN 9788120004009. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  4. S., Geetha (2008). Society and politics in French India: merger and anti-merger alignments in the Mid-Twentieth century (PhD). Pondicherry University. hdl:10603/5417.
  5. Civic Affairs, Volume 4, Issues 1-6. 1956. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  6. "Civic Affairs, Volume 3, Numbers 7–12". S.P. Mehra. Citizen Press at Kanpur. 1956. p. 99.
  7. "The Encyclopaedia of Indian National Congress". A. Moin Zaidi. S. Chand Publications. 1976. p. 229.
  8. Shriman Narayan, K.P.Madhavan Nair (1956). "Report Of The General Secretaries". Indian National Congress.
  9. "Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru" (PDF). Jawaharlal Nehru. Oxford University Press. 1961. p. 156.
  10. "Bharathidasan: Life". Pāppaṇṇā Paramēsvaran̲. Anu Pathippagam. 1991. p. 39.
  11. "All India Election Guide". R. V. Krishna Ayyar. Oriental Publishers. 1956. pp. 167, 464.
  12. "India, A Reference Annual 1956". Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Publications Division. 1956.
  13. Encyclopaedia of India and Her States: Union Territories, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Goa, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Pondicherry. 1996. ISBN 9788171007301. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  14. Civic Affairs, Volume 6, Issues 1-4. 1958. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  15. K. K., Rajagopalan (12 September 1959). "Pondicherry Assembly Elections An Analysis" (PDF). The Economic Weekly. Retrieved 10 June 2020.

Notes
  1. Equivalent to Speaker in contemporary Indian assemblies
  2. He resigned from Congress party. He along with four other dissidents joined the opposition. After he left the assembly by declaring sine die along with his dissidents, the deputy speaker was asked to act as speaker and Purushothama Reddiar got removed from speaker post unanimously.[5]: 99 
  3. Equivalent to Deputy Speaker in contemporary Indian assemblies
  4. Then referred as Chief councillor
  5. i.e. Won on P.F. ticket,[10] but, among three who joined Congress after elections
  6. i.e. Kanakalpeta constituency
  7. i.e. Adi Andhrapeta constituency
  8. i.e. The seat fell vacant after Pakkiriswamy Pillai's death in January 1956.[11]
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