Think of an election without customised campaign vehicles, drum beats, and blaring music as candidates took out bicycle or bullock cart ride to reach electors in villages and sought votes.

After the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order 1956, the second legislative assembly election to the Madras State for 206 seats was held on March 31, 1957 in which Indian National Congress (INC), led by K. Kamaraj, won the election. Also, elections to the House of the People (Lok Sabha) were held simultaneously.

A. Thengappa Gounder of Sivagiri, who is 96 years now, contested in the then Chennimalai Assembly Constituency as INC candidate and lost to K.P. Nallasivam, an independent candidate. The constituency comprised three firkas (revenue blocks), 32 villages, and 900 small villages and is currently the Modakurichi Assembly Constituency. Since DMK was not recognised as a party by the Election Commission of India till 1962, its candidates contested as independents.

Recalling the election campaigns held 62 years ago, he said there was no alliance between political parties and all the parties - INC, Communist Party of India, Forward Black, Praja Socialist Party, Socialist Party and Congress Reform Committee - contested separately.

While campaigning was done round-the-clock, with the candidates travelling 20 km to 40 km a day, polling was from 7 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Since electors’ houses were located in rural areas, reaching them by foot was difficult. “We had to use bicycles or bullock carts for campaigning,” he said and added that only candidates who could afford used rented cars. The candidates and cadre had to carry petromax lamps or fire sticks (thee pantham) during campaigns in villages as there was no electricity. Serving food with vada and payasam was a feast those days. Hence, food will be cooked at a place and transported in carts and served to people and they will be asked to vote, he said.

Mr. Gounder’s campaigns promised to provide electricity, start new schools, and hospitals in the area. “Only one theatre was located in an area and slides carrying the campaign messages were screened”, he said and added that ₹1 per elector was given to the village head for distributing to electors.

Ballot boxes pasted with symbols of each candidate’s party will be placed at the polling station and electors had to drop the ballot sheet in the box of the candidate to whom they want to vote.

The image of two bullocks with a plough was the symbol of the INC and he added that no dispute prevailed with opposition candidates during elections. “After the results were declared, candidate who had won would go to the house of the candidate who had lost the election and eat food,” he said.

Mr. Gounder, who reads newspapers without wearing spectacles even now, wanted elections to Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies to be held simultaneously so that expenditure on conduct of elections can be reduced significantly.