All Ceylon Tamil Congress
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All Ceylon Tamil Congress
Akila Ilankai Thamil Congress அகில இலங்கைத் தமிழ்க் காங்கிரஸ் අකිල ඉලංකෙයි තමිල් කොංග්රස් |
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| Secretary | Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam |
| Founder | G. G. Ponnambalam |
| Founded | August 29, 1944 |
| Headquarters | 15 Queen's Road, Colpetty, Colombo 3 |
| Ideology | Tamil Nationalism |
| National affiliation | Tamil National People's Front |
| Election symbol | |
| Bicycle | |
| Party flag | |
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All Ceylon Tamil Congress (Tamil: அகில இலங்கைத் தமிழ்க் காங்கிரஸ்), is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka.
The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam asked for a 50-50 representation in parliament (50% for the Sinhalese, 50% for all other ethnic groups). This was immediately rejected by the British Governor General Lord Soulbury as a "mockery of democracy”.
Due to the cooperation of the ACTC with the United National Party a group led by S.J.V. Chelvanayakam broke away in 1949, forming the Federal Party (FP). The ACTC was largely discredited when their ally the UNP moved away from bilingual and bicommunal policies towards a pro-Sinhala stance. Thus the FP emerged as the major Tamil party in 1956.
In 1972 the ACTC and the FP formed the Tamil United Front, which later evolved into the Tamil United Liberation Front in 1976.
Ahead of the 2001 elections, ACTC joined the LTTE-backed Tamil National Alliance (TNA). In the 2004 elections the TNA won 6.9% of the popular vote and 22 out of the 225 seats in parliament.
The ACTC left the TNA in 2010 and subsequently joined a new political alliance, the Tamil National People's Front.
Leaders of this party:
In the 1947 election, the first for the independent Ceylon, the ACTC won 4.37% of the popular vote and 7 out of 95 seats in the Sri Lankan parliament.
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