The 1962 Lok Sabha election marked the emergence of the DMK as a principal political player in the State, a position that it maintains even today.
Though the Congress did not lose any seats, compared with 1957, it was clear that it had to encounter the rising DMK, whose leaders were known for their oratorical skills. In 1957, when the DMK contested the election, it was not a recognised State party. Yet, it secured 8.7% of the votes and even got two Members of Parliament.
Five years later, its votes jumped to 18.64% and seven of its candidates, including Nanjil K. Manoharan, made it to Parliament. In the intervening period (April 1959), the DMK became the single largest party in the Chennai Corporation Council and its nominee, A.P. Arasu, became the Mayor. Sensing the party’s growing strength in the city, the Congress shifted its MP for South Chennai, T.T. Krishnamachari, to Tiruchendur where he was elected unopposed in 1962.
In fact, when the Congress and the DMK contested the 1962 poll, they had witnessed churns internally. In June 1959, former Chief Minister C. Rajagopalachari, or Rajaji, formed the Swatantra Party to take on the Congress at the national level. In the State, he and then Chief Minister K. Kamaraj were poles apart. In April 1961, one of the DMK’s senior leaders, E.V. K. Sampath, Namakkal MP, left the party to establish the Tamil National Party. A year later, he contested from South Madras and lost to his former colleague, Manoharan. Besides, in 1962 there was no trace of the Congress Reform Committee, which had secured two seats in 1957.
According to Anna (Tamil), R. Kannan’s biography of C.N. Annadurai, the DMK had tried to arrive at an electoral understanding with the Muslim League, the CPI, the Forward Bloc and the Swatantra Party. Eventually, it entered a pact only with the Muslim League. However, Rajaji was supportive of the DMK. In terms of poll results, the Congress won 31 seats. But in vote share, it polled about one percentage point less at 45.26%. The DMK bagged seven seats, the CPI, two and the Forward Bloc, one.
Among the winners in 1962 were C. Subramaniam (Pollachi); P. Subbaroyan (Tiruchengode); Maragatham Chandrasekhar (Mayiladuthurai); Soundaram Ramachandran (Dindigul); and L. Elayaperumal (Thirukoilur) — all from the Congress; Era Sezhiyan (Perambalur) and K. Rajaram (Krishnagiri), from the DMK; K. Ananda Nambiar (Tiruchi) and R. Umanath (Pudukottai), from the CPI.
Three MPs – the CPI’s Parvati Krishnan and K.T.K. Thangamani in Coimbatore and Madurai respectively; and the Congress’s C.R. Narasimhan in Krishnagiri – were among those who lost.
