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{{Infobox legislative term
| name = 1st Representative Assembly of Pondicherry
| image = Pondicherry Legislative Assembly.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Assembly Building, rue Victor Simonel, [[Pondicherry|Puducherry]], [[India]]
| body = [[Pondicherry Representative Assembly]]
| election = [[1955 Pondicherry Representative Assembly election]]
| before = ''[[Second Representative Assembly of French India]]''
| after = ''[[Second Pondicherry Representative Assembly]]''
| government = [[Indian National Congress]]
| opposition = People's Front
| term_start = {{Start date|1955|08|17|df=y}}
| term_end = {{End date|1958|10|28|df=y}}
| membership1 = 39
}}
After the de facto merger on 1 November 1954 and before the legal integration with the [[India|Indian Union]] on 16 August 1962, general elections were held in [[1955 Pondicherry Representative Assembly election|1955]] and [[1959 Pondicherry Representative Assembly election|1959]]. On January 1955, The Indian union government renamed the French settlements in India as '''State of Pondicherry''' by passing an order.<ref name="IAR1955">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.fi/books?id=JncPAQAAIAAJ|title=Indian Affairs Record (Vol. I and II)|publisher=Diwan Chand Indian Information Center|year=1955}}</ref>{{rp|20}} The first general elections to the '''[[Pondicherry Representative Assembly]]''' were held in 1955 from July 18 to 23 for 39 constituencies. The election were held on the basis of adult franchise under the State of Pondicherry (Representation of the People) Order, 1955 which prescribed the rules and regulations for the conduct of elections, more or less on the pattern adopted in the Indian Union.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.100486|title=India, A Reference Annual 1956|page=494|work= Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India|publisher=Publications Division|year=1956}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DFqbAAAAMAAJ|title=Cabinet Responsibility to Legislature|page=464|work= G.C.Malhotra|publisher=Metropolitan Book Co. Pvt. Ltd.|year=1964}}</ref>

==Important Members==
* '''[[Speaker (politics)|President]]:'''{{refn|group=note|Equivalent to Speaker in contemporary Indian assemblies}}
**R.L. Purushothama Reddiar from 17 August 1955<ref name="Geetha2008">{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=S. |first=Geetha|date=2008 |title=Society and politics in French India: merger and anti-merger alignments in the Mid-Twentieth century|publisher=Pondicherry University|url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/5417}}</ref>{{rp|368}} to 23 April 1956{{refn|group=note|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.<ref name="CivicAffairs1954"/>{{rp|99}}}}
** [[Kamichetty Sri Parassourama Varaprassada Rao Naidu]] from 23 April 1956<ref name="CivicAffairs1956_2">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.fi/books?id=vfsmAQAAIAAJ|title=Civic Affairs, Volume 3, Numbers 7–12 |page=99|work= S.P. Mehra|publisher=Citizen Press at Kanpur|year=1956}}</ref>{{rp|97}} to 24 October 1958

* '''[[Vice-President]]:'''{{refn|group=note|Equivalent to Deputy Speaker in contemporary Indian assemblies}}
** [[Kamichetty Sri Parassourama Varaprassada Rao Naidu]] from 1954 to April 1956
* '''Leader of the House:'''
** [[Maurice Pakkiriswamy Pillai]] from 17 August 1955<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9smKAAAAMAAJ|title=The Encyclopaedia of Indian National Congress|volume=15|page=229|work= A. Moin Zaidi|publisher=S. Chand Publications|year=1976}}</ref> to 13 January 1956<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99239|title=Report Of The General Secretaries|author= Shriman Narayan, K.P.Madhavan Nair|publisher=Indian National Congress|year=1956}}</ref>{{rp|64–65}}
** [[Édouard Goubert]] from 1956<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.archieve.claudearpi.net/maintenance/uploaded_pics/SWJN_Vol_32_PY.pdf|title=Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru|page=156|work= Jawaharlal Nehru|volume=32|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1961}}</ref> to 24 October 1958
* '''[[Leader of opposition]]:'''
** [[V. Subbiah]] from 17 August 1955 to 24 October 1958

==Members of the First Pondicherry Representative Assembly as of 1956==
{| class="wikitable Sortable" border="2"
|- valign="top"
!||Party Name
! Members
|-
| style="background-color:{{party color|Indian National Congress}}"|  || style="text-align:left;"|[[Indian National Congress]]
| align="right"|22
|-
| style="background-color:#FF0000"|  || style="text-align:left;"|People's Front
| align="right"|12
|-
| style="background-color:{{party color|Independent}}"|  || style="text-align:left;"|[[Independent politician|Independents]]
| align="right"| 5
|}
'''Keys:'''
{{legend2|#00FFFF|[[Indian National Congress|Congress]] (22) |border=solid 1px #AAAAAA}}
{{legend2|#FF0000|People's Front (P.F.) (12) |border=solid 1px #AAAAAA}}
{{legend2|#D3D3D3|[[Independent politician|Independent]] (5) |border=solid 1px #AAAAAA}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Members of the First Pondicherry Representative Assembly
|-
!S. No!!Name !!Constituency!!Commune!!Region!!Party
|-
|1
|Annousamy
|Ariankuppam
|Ariancoupom
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#FF0000|P.F.
|-
|2
|Arul Raj
|Muthialpet
|Pondicherry
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#FF0000|P.F.
|-
|3
|Arunachalam
|Darbaranyeswarar Koil
|Tirnoular
|Karikal
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|[[Indian National Congress|Congress]]
|-
|4
|Asappu Bairavasamy
|Oulgaret Town
|Oulgaret
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#FF0000|P.F.
|-
|5
|Barathidasan
|Cassicade
|Pondicherry
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress{{refn|group=note|i.e. Won on P.F. ticket,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n3MOAAAAYAAJ|title=Bharathidasan: Life|page=39|work= Pāppaṇṇā Paramēsvaran̲|publisher=Anu Pathippagam|year=1991}}</ref> but, among three who joined Congress after elections}}
|-
|6
|C. E. Barathan
|Mahe Town
|Mahe
|Mahe
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|7
|Chandrasekhara Chettiar
|Archivak–Tavalacoupom
|Ariancoupom
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|8
|D.Rathinasabapathy Pillai
|Néravy Commune
|Néravy
|Karikal
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|9
|[[Édouard Goubert]]
|Bahour
|Bahour
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|10
|Evariste Dessame
|Karikal South
|Karikal
|Karikal
|bgcolor=#FF0000|P.F.
|-
|11
|Govindaraju
|Nellitope Town
|Modéliarpeth
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#FF0000|P.F.
|-
|12
|Joseph Latour
|Ouppalaom
|Pondicherry
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#FF0000|P.F.
|-
|13
|K. Sheikh Dawood Maricar
|Karikal Town North
|Karikal
|Karikal
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|14
|[[K.S.V. Prasadarao Naidu]]
|Yanam{{refn|group=note|i.e. Kanakalpeta constituency}}
|Yanaon
|Yanam
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|15
|Louis Savarih
|Villenour Town
|Villenour
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#D3D3D3|Ind.
|-
|16
|M.M.Hussein
|Fifth Bussy Street
|Pondicherry
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#FF0000|P.F.
|-
|17
|Mohamed Yusoof
|Karikal Central
|Karikal
|Karikal
|bgcolor=#D3D3D3|Ind.
|-
|18
|Padmanabhan
|Palloor
|Mahé
|Mahe
|bgcolor=#D3D3D3|Ind.
|-
|19
|Murugaswamy Clemanso
|Couroussou Coupom
|Pondicherry
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#FF0000|P.F.
|-
|20
|N. Sethuraman Chettiar
|Rajbhavan
|Pondicherry
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#D3D3D3|Ind.
|-
|21
|N. Ranganathan
|Saram and Lawspet
|Oulgaret
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#FF0000|P.F.
|-
|22
|Pakkir Mohammed
|Oussoudou
|Villenour
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#FF0000|P.F.
|-
|23
|Shanmugam
|Nedungadu
|Neduncadou
|Karikal
|bgcolor=#FF0000|P.F.
|-
|24
|Ramalingam
|Calapet
|Oulgaret
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|25
|R.L. Purushottam Reddiar
|Kuruvinattam-Kariambuttur
|Bahour
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|26
|S. Dakshinamoorthy Mudaliar
|Thirumalarayanpattinam South
|Grand Aldée
|Karikal
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|27
|Thandapani Kounder
|Mannadipet Town
|Tiroubouvané
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|28
| Thiagaraja Naicker
|Embaralam-Kalamandapam
|Nettapacom
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|29
| Thirukamu Reddi
|Sellipet-Souttoukeny
|Tiroubouvané
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|30
| T. Srinivasa Pillai
|Thirumeni Alagar
|Cotchéry
|Karikal
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|31
| U. Rangaswamy Pillai
|Thirumalayapattinam North
|Grand Aldée
|Karikal
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|32
| Venkatasubba Reddiar
|Nettapakkam Town
|Nettapacom
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|33
| V.N.Purushottaman
|Pandakkal
|Mahe
|Mahe
|bgcolor=#D3D3D3|Ind.
|-
|34
| V.Narayanaswamy
|Reddiarpalayam Town
|Oulgaret
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#FF0000|P.F.
|-
|35
| V.Ramalingam Pillai
|Badrakaliamman Kovil
|Tirnoular
|Karikal
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|36
| V.Ramaswamy Pillai
| Kottuchery-Mathakovil
|Cotchéry
|Karikal
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|37
| [[V. Subbiah]]
|Murugapakkam
|Modéliarpeth
|Pondicherry
|bgcolor=#FF0000|P.F.
|-
|38
| Y.Jagannadha Rao
|Yanam{{refn|group=note|i.e. Adi Andhrapeta constituency}}
|Yanaon
|Yanam
|bgcolor=#00FFFF|Congress
|-
|39
| [[Maurice Pakkiriswamy Pillai|M. Pakkiriswamy Pillai]]{{note label|†|†|†}}{{refn|group=note|i.e. The seat fell vacant after Pakkiriswamy Pillai's death in January 1956.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QSs-AAAAIAAJ|title=All India Election Guide|work= R. V. Krishna Ayyar|publisher=Oriental Publishers|pages=167, 464|year=1956}}</ref>}}
|Karikovil Pathan
|Karikal
|Congress
|}
{{note label|†|†|†}} 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.<ref name="CivicAffairs1954">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.fi/books?id=YfwmAQAAIAAJ|title=Civic Affairs, Volume 4, Issues 1-6|work= S.P. Mehra|publisher=Citizen Press at Kanpur|year=1956}}</ref>{{rp|97}} Shanmugam was an erstwhile People's Front member from Nedungadu constituency.<ref name="CivicAffairs1956_2"/>{{rp|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]].<ref name="ReferenceManual1956_MinistryOfBroadcasting">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.100486|title=India, A Reference Annual 1956|work= Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India|publisher=Publications Division|year=1956}}</ref>{{rp|494}}
{| class="wikitable" width="70%" style="font-size: x-big; font-family: verdana"
! style="background-color:#666666; color:white"|Minister
! style="background-color:#666666; color:white"|Portfolio
|---
|[[Édouard Goubert]]<br>{{small|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:<ref name="EncylopediaIndia1996">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.fi/books?hl=fi&id=NzxuAAAAMAAJ|title=Encyclopaedia of India and Her States: Union Territories, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Goa, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Pondicherry |work= Verinder Grover , Ranjana Arora |publisher=Deep & Deep Publications |year=1996}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" width="70%" style="font-size: x-big; font-family: verdana"
! style="background-color:#666666; color:white"|Minister
! style="background-color:#666666; color:white"|Portfolio
|---
|[[Édouard Goubert]]<br>{{small|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, due to Algerian war, the de-jure transfer did not take place until August 1962.<ref name=IAR1955/>{{rp|27}}
* On 26 August 1955, the assembly demanded that the State of Pondicherry be kept as a separate state within the Indian union. The the demand got accepted later and Puducherry is an union territory comprising of the French settlements of Puducherry, Karaikkal, Mahe and Yanam.<ref name=IAR1955/>{{rp|29}}

==Instability==
Untimely death of the chief minister 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. That 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.<ref name="CivicAffairs1954"/>{{rp|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 [[List of presidents of the Indian National Congress|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.<ref name="CivicAffairs1956">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.fi/books?id=TOYmAQAAIAAJ|title=Civic Affairs, Volume 6, Issues 1-4|work= S.P. Mehra|publisher=Citizen Press at Kanpur|year=1958}}</ref>{{rp|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 [[List of lieutenant governors of Puducherry|Chief Commissioner]] took over the administration in October 1958. Later, after nine months, second general elections were held to the Pondicherry Representative Assembly in [[1955 Pondicherry Representative Assembly election|1959]].<ref>{{cite news |last= K. K. |first=Rajagopalan |date= September 12, 1959|title= Pondicherry Assembly Elections An Analysis |url=https://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/1959_11/37/pondicherry_assembly_electionsan_analysis.pdf |work= The Economic Weekly|access-date=10 June 2020 }}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Government of Puducherry]]
*[[List of Chief Ministers of Puducherry]]
*[[List of lieutenant governors of Puducherry]]
*[[Puducherry Legislative Assembly]]
*[[Pondicherry Representative Assembly]]
*[[1955 Pondicherry Representative Assembly election]]
*[[1959 Pondicherry Representative Assembly election]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

{{Template:Legislature of the Puducherry}}

{{#seo:
|keywords=Puducherry Legislative Assembly, 1955 establishments in India, 1958 disestablishments in India
|description=
}}

[[Category:Puducherry Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:1955 establishments in India]]
[[Category:1958 disestablishments in India]]

1st Pondicherry Representative Assembly - Revision history

MetaBOT at 16:12, 8 July 2023