P. Kandiah

Ponnambalam Kandiah was a Ceylon Tamil (; 1 July 1914 – September 1960) was a Ceylon Tamil academic, teacher, politician and Member of Parliament.

Early life and family Kandiah was born on 1 July 1914. He was the son of Ponnambalam from Puloly in northern Ceylon. He later joined the Ceylon University College, graduating in 1935 with a BA degree. He received a scholarship to study at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and after two years he graduated with a MA degree in economics and oriental languages. He then studied for a further two years at University of Oxford. After returning to Ceylon Kandiah and the other young leftists founded the United Socialist Party in 1941 and its successor the Communist Party of Ceylon (CPC) in 1943. He however won the 1956 parliamentary election and entered Parliament. A delimitation commission in the late 1950s created a new electoral district for Udupiddy from parts of Point Pedro. Kandiah stood as the CPC candidate in the new electoral district at the March 1960 parliamentary election but was defeated by the ACTC candidate M. Sivasithamparam.

Kandiah died in September 1960 aged 46.