Soon after the untimely death of his father (Ulanat Mootha Pannicker, a chieftain of the Zamorin of Calicut), Gopala Menon's mother with her six small children moved to Madras (the erstwhile Madras Presidency ). Gopala Menon did his schooling and higher studies in the Madras Christian College High School and graduate studies at Madras Christian College and the Law College, Madras. After qualifying in Law he joined the Legal firm of Sir Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu who became his mentor. Sir KV Reddy, was the first Indian to be appointed Governor of a Presidency, when he became the Governor of the Madras Presidency in June 1936.
Gopala Menon set up his private law practice in Madras in the early 1920s, getting a good start from the extensive practice of Sir Reddy, a part of which was turned over to him.
Always a person who was sympathetic to the conditions of the under-privileged, Gopala Menon devoted his legal practice to the requirements of the needy. He virtually adopted a large cluster of poor households in Vepery and Choolai districts for whom he provided free legal service. He represented this Municipal constituency in the Madras Corporation for nearly twenty years from the early 1930s. During his Membership of the Madras Corporation he was for many terms the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance and other important Committees, and was elected the Deputy Mayor for a term.
He was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1952, (see 1952 Madras Legislative Assembly election) from the Ponnani constituency in the South Malabar district of Madras Presidency . This was a landmark victory as in these elections, the Communist Party of India and the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party had made a strong showing and his was one of only 5 victories for the INC out of 31 constituencies in what later became Kerala state.
In September 1955 he was elected as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Madras State (see List of speakers of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly), the precursor of the present Tamil Nadu state. He was only the second person to occupy this office, following the first ever Speaker of the newly created Madras State J. Shivashanmugam Pillai who served from May 1952 to August 1955.
He published a book on Parliamentary Practices, which served as a handbook for newly elected lawmakers, who were unfamiliar with the subject.
Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initially created as an advisory body in 1861, by the British colonial government. It was established by the first Indian Council Act of 1861, enacted in the British parliament in the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Its role and strength were later expanded by the second Council Act of 1892. Limited election was introduced in 1909. The Council became a unicameral legislative body in 1921 and eventually the upper chamber of a bicameral legislature in 1937. After India became independent in 1947, it continued to be the upper chamber of the legislature of Madras State, one of the successor states to the Madras Presidency. It was renamed as the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council when the state was renamed as Tamil Nadu in 1969. The Council was abolished by the M. G. Ramachandran administration on 1 November 1986. In 2010 the DMK regime headed by M. Karunanidhi tried to revive the Council. The former AIADMK regime (2016-2021) expressed its intention not to revive the council and passed a resolution in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in this regard.
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K. A. Mathiazhagan was an Indian politician and Co-Founder of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He served as the Finance Minister, Minister of Food, Revenue and Commercial Taxes in the Tamil Nadu government and Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.
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P. Seenivasan was an Indian politician of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Member of the Legislative Assembly Tamil Nadu. He served as the Deputy Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1971 to 1972. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly as a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate from Virudhunagar constituency and Sivakasi in 1967, 1971 and 1989 elections. He defeated the King maker K. Kamaraj in the 1967 assembly elections when he contested against him in the virudhunagar constituency.
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The first legislative assembly Election to the Madras state based on universal adult suffrage was held in March 1952. This was the first election held in Madras state after the Indian Independence. This election was officially known as the 1951 Madras State Election, even though through delays, actual voting didn't take place until early 1952.
Kala Venkata Rao was an Indian independence activist and politician. He served as the Minister for Revenue in the governments of the Madras Presidency and Andhra Pradesh. He also served as the Minister of Finance in the latter.
The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members of whom are democratically elected using the First-past-the-post system. The presiding officer of the Assembly is the Speaker. The term of the Assembly is five years unless dissolved earlier.
The second legislative assembly election for the Madras Presidency after the establishment of a bicameral legislature by the Government of India Act of 1935 was held in 1946. The election was held after 6 years of Governor's rule starting from 1939, when the Indian National Congress government of C. Rajagopalachari resigned protesting Indian involvement in World War II. This was the last election held in the presidency - after Indian independence in 1947, the presidency became the Madras state. The election was held simultaneously with that of the Legislative Council. The Congress swept the polls by winning 163 out of 215 seats. The years after this election saw factionalism in Madras Congress party with divisions across regional and communal lines. Competition among T. Prakasam, C. Rajagopalachari and K. Kamaraj resulted in the election of Prakasam as the Chief Minister initially. But he was later defeated by Omandur Ramaswamy Reddiar with Kamaraj's support. In turn, Reddiar himself was ousted to make way for P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja with the support of Kamaraj.
The first legislative council election to Madras Presidency after the establishment of dyarchical system of government by the Government of India Act, 1919, was held in November 1920. Indian National Congress boycotted the election due to its participation in the Non-cooperation movement. The election occurred during the early stages of non-Brahmin movement and the major issue of the election was anti-Brahminism. Justice party won the election with no significant opposition and A. Subbarayalu Reddiar became the first Chief Minister of the presidency.
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