Blast from the past: When stalwarts tumbled in 1952 and 1957 Lok Sabha polls

Tamil Nadu's surprising 1952 Lok Sabha election results showcased Congress dominance despite notable defeats and new entrants.

Tamil Nadu has never failed to surprise voters and poll pundits alike. This trend was evident in the first general election to the Lok Sabha. In the first poll held in the then Madras State (which included parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala) during January and February 1952, Congress stalwarts, including P. Subbaroyan, Ramnath Goenka and T. Chengalvarayan tasted defeat. 

For this study, seats in the existing territorial limits of Tamil Nadu were only considered while assessing the performance of various political parties in the 1952 election. Though the Madras State had 75 seats, including 13 double-member seats in a total of 62 constituencies, only 38 seats, spread over 31 constituencies, were taken into account as they formed part of the existing State.

Subbaroyan, who was Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency during 1926-30, lost to an independent, S.K. Baby alias Kandaswami, by a margin of nearly 17,000 votes. Goenka, a sitting MP and one of the doyens of the Indian media, was beaten by V. Munuswami of the Tamil Nadu Toilers (TNT) Party in the Tindivanam (general-member seat) constituency while Chengalvarayan lost to A. Krishnaswami of the Commonweal Party in Kancheepuram. Even though the DMK, which was founded in 1949, did not take part in the election then, it backed the TNT and the Commonweal Party, led by S. Ramaswami Padayachi and M.A. Manikavelu Naicker, for having supported the Dravidian movement. According to the book The History of the DMK (Volume 1), eight successful candidates had the backing of the party.

Notwithstanding these setbacks, it was the Congress which bagged the highest number of seats with 24. Four seats each went to TNT and Independents. While Commonweal Party secured three, the Communist Party of India, Forward Bloc and the Kisan-Mazdoor Praja Party netted one each. Among the prominent winners from the Congress party were K. Kamaraj (Srivilliputtur), R. Venkataraman (Thanjavur), L. Elayaperumal (Cuddalore), P.M. Kakkan (Madurai), and Rajaji’s son C.R. Narasimhan (Krishnagiri). In the case of non-Congress candidates, K. Ananda Nambiar, a veteran Left leader, emerged victorious from Mayiladuthurai and U. Muthuramalinga Thevar (Forward Bloc - FB).  

Besides, the present Kanniyakumari (then called Nagercoil) Lok Sabha constituency, which was part of the princely State of Travancore-Cochin in 1951-52, was won by ‘Marshal’ A. Nesamony as the candidate of Tamil Nadu Congress, which pushed for the merger of the area with the then Madras State. 

Five years later, the political situation had changed in the State. The DMK had decided to enter the fray. Besides, a group of dissidents in the Congress party, calling themselves Congress Reform Committee, had emerged. Headed by K. S. Venkatakrishna Reddiar, the dissidents did not take on directly K. Kamaraj, who had by then become Chief Minister but it was an open secret who their target was.  

In 1957, there were 34 constituencies in the State, of which seven were double-member seats with a total of 41 seats. Prior to the polling, Congress’ nominee – T. Ganapathy – was elected unopposed from Tiruchendur. Including him, the party grabbed 31 seats. The CPI, CRC and the DMK secured two each. While the FB and Socialists got one seat each, two independents won. Among the new entrants to the Lok Sabha were K.T.K. Thangamani and Parvati, both from the CPI, representing Madurai and Coimbatore, and N. Sivaraj, a stalwart of the Scheduled Castes (Chengalpattu) and an independent. The DMK’s first set of MPs were E.V.K. Sampath from Namakkal and Dharmalingam from Tiruvannamalai. In this election too, a leading figure suffered defeat when the CPI’s P. Ramamoorthi, who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, was defeated in the Nagapattinam (general) Lok Sabha seat by the Congress by about 1.3 lakh votes.