1952 Coorg State Legislative Assembly election explained

Election Name:1952 Coorg Legislative Assembly election
Country:India
Type:legislative
Vote Type:Popular
Ongoing:no
Election Date:1952
Next Election:1957 Mysore Legislative Assembly election
Next Year:1957
Seats For Election:24 seats in the Coorg Legislative Assembly
Majority Seats:13
Turnout:63.53%
Party1:Indian National Congress
Image1:C M Poonacha.gif
Leader1:C. M. Poonacha
Seats1:15
Popular Vote1:55.54%
Seat Change1:New
CM
After Party:Indian National Congress
After Election:C. M. Poonacha

The 1952 Coorg Legislative Assembly election was held to constitute the Coorg Legislative Assembly, electing members of legislature for 18 constituencies of the erstwhile Indian State of Coorg. It took place on 27 March 1952 and a total of 87,947 people voted 24 out of 60 candidates to power. This was the only election to the assembly before the State was merged into Mysore (later renamed as Karnataka) as per the States Reorganisation Act in 1956.[1]

Constituencies

A total of 24 seats were up for election from 18 constituencies; six two-member constituencies and twelve single-member constituencies. No seats were reserved for Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes.

Contestants

Sixty candidates contested the election. The Indian National Congress presented candidates in all 24 constituencies. There were also 34 independent candidates. The Takkadi Party, which campaigned against merger into Mysore State, contested as independents.[2] The Takkadi Party was led by Pandyanda Belliappa, a veteran Gandhian.[2] A third force in the election was the Communist Party of India, that only presented two candidates (C.B. Monniah in Hudikeri and B.N. Kuttappa in Siddapur). No female candidates were in the fray.

Results

The Indian National Congress (INC) emerged victorious, winning 15 out of the 24 seats. The INC leader C. M. Poonacha won his seat from the Berriathnad constituency, with 1,969 votes (71.37 per cent of the votes polled in the constituency). Nine independent candidates won the remaining seats. Belliappa won his seat Ammathi Nad with 1,667 votes (57.25 per cent of votes polled). INC candidates got 55.54 per cent of the votes polled statewide, independents 42.88 per cent and the two communist candidates 1.58 per cent. The candidate with the highest percentage of votes polled in his favour was G. Lingarajayya, the INC candidate in Fraserpet, who polled 2,375 votes (71.64 per cent).

!colspan=8||- style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;"! class="unsortable" |! Political party !! Flag !! Candidates !! Won !! % of
Seats !! Votes !! Vote %|- style="background: #90EE90;"| | style="text-align:left;" |Indian National Congress| | 24 || 15 || 62.50 || 48,845 || 55.54|-| || 34 || 9 || 37.50 || 37,716 || 42.88|-| | style="text-align:left;" |Communist Party of India| | 2 || 0 || || 1,386 || 1.58|- class="unsortable" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"!colspan=3|Total! ! 24!colspan=3|Voters: 138,440 Turnout 87,947 (63.53%)|}

Members of the Coorg Legislative Assembly, 1952

Keys:

No. Constituency Name of elected MLA Party affiliation
1 Sanivarasanthe P. K. Chennayya bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
2 C. K. Kalappa bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
3 Somwarpet South H. T. Muthanna Independent
4 Fraserpet G. Lingarajayya bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
5 Sunticoppa bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
P. Lakha bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
6 Mercara Town B. S. Kushalappa bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
7 Murnad C. A. Mandanna bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
8 Mercara Nad P. D. Subbaiah bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
9 Srimangala Nad K. P. Karumbayya Independent
G. Subbaiah Independent
10 Hudikeri K. K. Ganapathy Independent
11 Berriath Nad bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
12 Ponnampet Nad Yeravara Belli bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
P. Nanamaya bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
13 Virajpet Town N. G. Ahamed Independent
14 Virajpet Nad Harijan Nanja Independent
P. C. Uthayya Independent
15 Ammathi Nad Independent
16 Siddapur Bettakurubara Kala bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
Muruvanda Machaiah bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress
17 Napoklu Nad A. C. Thimmaiah Independent
18 Konana Devaiah bgcolor=#00FFFF Indian National Congress

After the election, Poonacha formed a two-member cabinet, consisting of himself as Chief Minister and Kuttur Mallapa (elected to the assembly from the Sanivarsanthe constituency) as Home Minister.[2]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Reorganisation of States, 1955. The Economic Weekly. 15 October 1955. 25 July 2015.
  2. News: Coorg and the reorganisation of States . C.M. Ramachandra . 20 October 2013 . The Hindu . 14 October 2014.