The ACTC was founded in 1944 by
G. G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam asked for a 50-50 representation in
parliament (50% for the majority
Sinhalese, and 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 (UNP), a group led by
S. J. V. Chelvanayakam split from the ACTC in 1949, forming the
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), commonly known as Federal Party. The ACTC was largely discredited when the UNP began to move away from bilingual and bicommunal policies and more towards
Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism. As a result, the ITAK overtook the ACTC as the main Tamil party in the country in
1956. In 1972 the ACTC and ITAK formed the Tamil United Front, which later evolved into the
Tamil United Liberation Front in 1976. The TULF would win 18 out of the 168 seats in the National State Assembly in the
1977 general elections, thus making it the main opposition party. Ahead of the
2001 general elections, the 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 formed a new political alliance, the
Tamil National People's Front. ==Leaders==