# April 1949 Singapore Municipal Commission election

The April 1949 Singapore Municipal Commission election took place on 2 April 1949 to elect 18 of the 27 seats in the Singapore Municipal Commission.

## Background

The election was the first election for the Singapore Municipal Commission since the municipal commissioner elections on 5 December 1911. In 1913, elections for the Singapore Municipal Commission were scrapped due to excessive politicking.
Following the end of World War II, elections were brought back for the Singapore Municipal Commission. Out of the 27 seats in the Singapore Municipal Commission, 18 seats were elected. These 18 seats were distributed to six wards in Singapore with each ward having three seats. The remaining nine seats were appointed by the British colonial government.
For the April 1949 election, municipal commissioners were elected to terms of varying lengths depending on their ranking in their respective wards. Commissioners who ranked third in their wards were elected to a term that ended in December 1949. Commissioners who ranked second had a term that ended in December 1950, and commissioners ranking first had a term that ended in December 1951.
Voting in this election was not compulsory, and voters were required to register in order to vote.
Nomination day was scheduled for 7 March 1949. Candidates were required to give an election deposit of $250 which was returned if they achieved at least 4.17% of the votes.

## Results

| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats |
| | Progressive Party | 8,782 | 59.68 | 13 |
| | Labour Party | 1,894 | 12.87 | 1 |
| | Independents | 4,040 | 27.45 | 4 |
| Total | Total | 14,716 | 100.00 | 18 |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 8,688 | – | |
| Source: Singapore Elections |||||

### By constituency

| Constituency | Seats | Electorate | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| City | 3 | 1,156 | Progressive Party | M. Oli Mohamed Mohamed Kassim | 527 | 27.4 |
| City | 3 | 1,156 | Progressive Party | Sandy Gurunathan Pillay | 398 | 20.7 |
| City | 3 | 1,156 | Independent | Hassan Ali Jivabhai | 375 | 19.5 |
| City | 3 | 1,156 | Independent | Lim Koon Teck | 326 | 16.9 |
| City | 3 | 1,156 | Labour Party | Syed Mumtaz Hussain | 299 | 15.5 |
| East | 3 | 1,653 | Independent | Goh Hood Kiat | 885 | 28.1 |
| East | 3 | 1,653 | Progressive Party | Frank Caulfield James | 778 | 24.7 |
| East | 3 | 1,653 | Progressive Party | Syed Hassan Al-Junied | 766 | 24.3 |
| East | 3 | 1,653 | Progressive Party | Amy Ede | 717 | 22.8 |
| North | 3 | 1,532 | Labour Party | Patrick Joseph Johnson | 534 | 20.1 |
| North | 3 | 1,532 | Progressive Party | V. Vayloo Pakirisamy | 489 | 18.4 |
| North | 3 | 1,532 | Progressive Party | Chong Thutt Pitt | 450 | 16.9 |
| North | 3 | 1,532 | Independent | P. V. Krishnan | 407 | 15.3 |
| North | 3 | 1,532 | Labour Party | Rajaratnam Vaithilingam | 393 | 14.8 |
| North | 3 | 1,532 | Progressive Party | Tan Sim Hong | 390 | 14.6 |
| Rochore | 3 | 1,851 | Independent | Pandarapillai Thillai Nathan | 871 | 29.9 |
| Rochore | 3 | 1,851 | Progressive Party | Sena Ana Mohamed Ali | 683 | 23.4 |
| Rochore | 3 | 1,851 | Independent | Ahmad bin Mohamed Ibrahim | 496 | 17.0 |
| Rochore | 3 | 1,851 | Independent | Syed Mohamed Abdul Hameed Chisty | 491 | 16.8 |
| Rochore | 3 | 1,851 | Labour Party | Govindapillai Maruthamuthoo Kanagasabai | 375 | 12.9 |
| South | 3 | 1,482 | Progressive Party | Arumugam Ponnu Rajah | 867 | 34.5 |
| South | 3 | 1,482 | Progressive Party | Abdul bin Samat | 760 | 30.2 |
| South | 3 | 1,482 | Progressive Party | Duncan Robertson | 699 | 27.8 |
| South | 3 | 1,482 | Independent | Cheah Kim Bee | 189 | 7.5 |
| West | 3 | 1,014 | Progressive Party | Cuthbert Francis Joseph Ess | 431 | 27.8 |
| West | 3 | 1,014 | Progressive Party | Gaw Sien Khian | 424 | 27.3 |
| West | 3 | 1,014 | Progressive Party | Phyllis Eu Cheng Li | 403 | 26.0 |
| West | 3 | 1,014 | Labour Party | Madai Puthan Damodaran Nair | 293 | 18.9 |
| Source: Singapore Elections ||||||||

### Terms of elected commissioners

| Constituency | Until December 1949 | Until December 1949 | Until December 1949 | Until December 1950 | Until December 1950 | Until December 1950 | Until December 1951 | Until December 1951 | Until December 1951 |
| Constituency | Commissioner | Party | Party | Commissioner | Party | Party | Commissioner | Party | Party |
| City | Hassan Ali Jivabhai | | Independent | Sandy Gurunathan Pillay | | Progressive | M. Oli Mohamed Mohamed Kassim | | Progressive |
| East | Syed Hassan Al-Junied | | Progressive | Frank Caulfield James | | Progressive | Goh Hood Kiat | | Independent |
| North | Chong Thutt Pitt | | Progressive | V. Vayloo Pakirisamy | | Labour | Patrick Joseph Johnson | | Progressive |
| Rochore | Ahmad bin Mohamed Ibrahim | | Independent | Sena Ana Mohamed Ali | | Progressive | Pandarapillai Thillai Nathan | | Independent |
| South | Duncan Robertson | | Progressive | Abdul bin Samat | | Progressive | Arumugam Ponnu Rajah | | Progressive |
| West | Phyllis Eu Cheng Li | | Progressive | Gaw Sien Khian | | Progressive | Cuthbert Francis Joseph Ess | | Progressive |