Former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj (1903–75), 122nd whose birth anniversary was celebrated on July 15, 2025, was known to strengthen the Congress in Tamil Nadu along with organizational skills.
In his long career, he had told the National Party in the state so much that the Congress had won most of the electoral battles since 1946. Certainly, in the assembly elections in 1967 and 1971, Kamaraj’s leadership qualities and limitations were revealed.
However, there were two election competitions – in 1954 for the Gudiyamat Assembly constituency and in 1969 Nagarasoul (now called Kanniyakumari) Lok Sabha seat elections – in which he was a prominent player and on both occasions, he succeeded with cleverness. Two by -elections were a common feature: both were held in areas outside their original district – Ramanathapuram, under which Virudhunagar (place of his birth) fell between 1910 and 1985.
Gudiaham Assembly Constituency
The need to contest elections in Gudiyam was born for Kamaraj as he was to become a member of the Legislature after his appointment in April 1954. Even though the legislature of Tamil Nadu was a two-wheeler, till then his predecessor C. CN Annadurai (CNA) used the CR’s route in 1967. Apart from this, Rajji P. Ramamurthy, Marxist theorist and then as a member of India’s undivided Communist Party (CPI), failed to fail CR’s nomination in the Madras High Court.
Kamaraj, who came from Veeradhunagar in the southern belt of the state, was a Member of Parliament at the time of becoming the Chief Minister. Vacancy in the Legislative Assembly was present only for Gudiyamatham, which was part of the North Arcot district (now divided into Vellore, Ranipat, Thirupathur and Thiruvannamalai districts). At that time, Gudiaham was a double-member constituency, with a seat reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC).
In June 1954, Kamaraj made it clear to the party that he would like to enter the field for a general seat, the Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF), which was established by BR Ambedkar, contacted the Congress with a request to adopt its member for reserved seat, according to a Hindu report on 22 June 1954. Congress and SCF have an electoral understanding. However, the proposal was probably not due to the stressful relations between Ambedkar and the Congress at the all -India level. Eventually, SCF was left to nominate Gudiaham to nominate his candidate. For reserved seat, Congress nominee T. Manavalan and Federation, M. Krishnaswamy was.
Even though the Congress candidates were the Chief Minister themselves, the ruling party did not take opportunity. Two Union Ministers – Maragatham Chandrashekhar, who were Deputy Minister for Health, and TT Krishnamcharry (TTK), Union Industries and Commerce Minister – were prepared for pole work, C. Apart from Subramaniam, no. 2 in Kamaraj Cabinet and Finance Minister.
KK, the chief rival CPI of the Chief Minister. Kothandraman was. In his biography of the former Chief Minister, veteran journalist TS Chakkalingam has mentioned that Congress members across the state attracted their attention to Gudiyamatham and “friends” of every district started their campaign for Kamaraj. “Another miracle” was – Dravid Kajgam and the Muslim League publicly announced his support for him and began his canvasing.
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Kamaraj was not the one who would get away from “such broad support”. He drowned himself in the campaign and did his work in the villages. With a few weeks to go for the voting date, he covered 100 out of 160 villages in the constituency, written by the Hindu on 18 July 1954. Responding to criticism from the communists, that the Congress did not solve many problems of the people, despite being in power at the center and in the states. To get freedom. Krishnamachari told the voters that Kamaraj was the “friend and follower” of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Being a person conscious of the standard of living of the poor, he would “best” to increase them, TTK assured voters.
When the result was on August 4, 1954, it was on the expected lines. Kamraj defeated the CPI candidate by a comfortable margin – around 38,000 votes. This was the only occasion when the former Chief Minister was a candidate in the northern region of the state.
After about 15 years, the political field in the state was not benign to either Kamaraj or Congress. In early 1967, the national party was disorganized by power in the state almost after a long 20 -year long rule. Kamaraj himself lost in Virudhunagar assembly constituency lightly in the Dravidian Munnetra Kazgam (DMK). CNA, DMK, who stitched a rainbow alliance, consisted of Swatantara and CPI (Marxist), captured power in a stunning fashion. At the Center, although the Congress was in power, there were changes in the balance of power. The “Old Guard” at the ruling party was experiencing the phase of the decline and naturally, there were reports of the difference between the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and some of his cabinet colleagues, who were considered a member of the “Old Guard”. As the pre-eminent position of the Congress started wandering in the politics of the country, new political forces were emerging.
Nagroil Lok Sabha Constitution
‘Marshal’ a. Nesmoni’s death required a by-election for the Nagercoil Lok Sabha constituency. After the defeat of Veeradhunagar, Kamaraj announced his candidature on 1 December 1968 in search of an opportunity to regain the trust of the people, the newspaper reported the next day. There were six other contestants. But, fight their and M. The Mathias was among the DMK -led coalition, which included Swatantara and the Muslim League.
Usually, Nagkoil should not have had a difficult area for the Congress, which was still a strong basis, as is now. Furthermore, even in 1967, when the national party was thrown into most districts, five of the six assembly constituencies, who formed Negroil, went in favor of the Congress. However, it was DMK, which decided to make the competition more intense.
Former Congress leader Paza Nidumaran said in his “Perunhalivarin Nizlil” (in the shadow of the great leader (Earth Kamaraj) that the by-election was converted into another “Kurkshatri War”, for which the entire credit was the then Public Works Minister M. Should go to Karunanidhi and East Assembly. Pa. Aditanar, who later became a minister in the DMK cabinet headed by Karunanidhi. In the assessment of Mr. Neduran, DMK leaders entertained the notion that if Kamaraj tasted the defeat (which could not be ignored especially after Veeradhunagar) could be excluded from Tamil Nadu politics.
With the increase in electoral fever, the atmosphere was being “overload” with a stream of lories that brought supporters of rival parties from outside the district, the Hindu wrote three days before the date of voting on 5 January 1969. “In the last 10 days, the police have arrested about 200 persons, most of them arrest Congressmen in relation to elections,” the newspaper said. The then Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) head C.Subramaniam (CS) accused DMK of bringing “rented goons” from neighboring Tiruneveli district. Karunanidhi, who oversee Mathius’s campaign, challenged CS’s allegations and blamed the Congress, which he said, “was involved in violence.” To complain about the participation of senior DMK ministers in the campaign, Karunanidhi argued that his party was “only after example” set by the Congress. Kamaraj’s response was that his party avoided inviting Union ministers to campaign in the constituency, even though he was “ready to come.”
At midnight of January 4, the by-election frenzy reached the boiling point when a worker from DMK, Kitu died and two others suffered injuries. On that day, the head of the state police (called Inspector General) RM Mahadevan reached Nagerkoil to look after the preparations. Superintendent of Police S. Dayasankar chose to go on medical leave for a month. They immediately. Srikumara Menon, Deputy Commissioner, replaced by traffic. Madurai On polling day (8 January), the then Chief Election Commissioner, SP Sen Verma, according to this newspaper, visited 35 polling stations in the constituency. Given the high-Dassibel campaign, the voter voting exceeded 75%, a few percent more marks than what Nagerkoil recorded in 1967.
There was no element of great surprise in the result. Kamaraj won goodbye election by a big margin of 1,28,201 votes on Mathius, voting 2,49,437 votes.
Commenting on the election battles of the former Chief Minister, A. Gopana, who also wrote his biography, feels that Kamaraj always emphasized more on supporting people than anything directly. Kamraj says, apart from writing ‘The DMK Years’, former Chief Minister CN Annadurai and MG Ramachandran, a biographical writer R.
Kamaraj’s participation in two by-elections only showed how much importance he had to gain legitimacy from the public.
