S. Balakrishnan (Mudukulathur MLA)

S. Balakrishnan, also known as So. Balakrishnan or So.Ba,^[1] was a veteran Indian politician, President of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) and Opposition Leader of the Legislative Assembly (India)|Member of the Legislative Assembly]] of Tamil Nadu for 18 years. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the 11th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (1996–2001).^[2]

Balakrishnan was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly]] as an Indian National Congress (INC) candidate from Mudukulathur constituency in the 1977 and 1991 elections^[3][4] and as a Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) (TMC) candidate from the same constituency in 1996.^[5] He was also elected from Kadaladi as a TMC candidate in the 2001 election.^[6] He represented Kadaladi, from 2001 until his death in 2006.^[7][8][9][1] In the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, So.Balakrishnan represented Mudukalathur for thirteen years and Kadaladi for five years.^{[7][10][11][12]}

Balakrishnan unsuccessfully contested elections in the same Ramanathapuram district on other occasions. In the General Elections of 1971, he was runner-up in the Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency with 139,276 votes (38.87% of the total).^[13] In the state elections of 1980, he contested from Mudukalathur and polled 37,175 votes (44.77%) but lost the election by 5536 votes.^[14] In the 1989 state elections, he contested from Kadaladi, a coastal constituency that neighboured Mudukalathur, and gained 32,273 votes, which was 409 (0.38%) less than the winner. The total number of votes that were rejected or declared invalid in that constituency during the election was 1878 (1.71%).^[15]

Last days[]

On 4 September 2004, Balakrishnan suffered serious spinal injuries in a road accident at Paramakudi while returning from Rameswaram after a discussion on Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project with the then Union Shipping Minister.^[16] The accident resulted in prolonged illness after a brief improvement. He died on 24 June 2006.^[1]

The then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Karunanidhi, in his condolence message recalled the effective speeches made by Balakrishnan in the Assembly and said that Balakrishnan was a role model for young legislators.^[17]

References[]