Early life

Balasundaram was born on 7 April 1903. He was the son of Reverend K. S. Murugesu, a Methodist clergyman. He was educated at Kilner College, Jaffna

Jaffna

Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna district located on a peninsula of the same name. Jaffna is approximately six miles away from Kandarodai which served as a famous emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical...

 and Royal College, Colombo. He later entered University College, Colombo and was awarded a science degree. He received a scholarship to study at Trinity Hall, Cambridge

Trinity Hall, Cambridge

Trinity Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the fifth-oldest college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich.- Foundation :...

 from where he graduated with a BA

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree. After graduation he returned to British Ceylon

British Ceylon

British Ceylon refers to British rule prior to 1948 of the island territory now known as Sri Lanka.-From the Dutch to the British:Before the beginning of the Dutch governance, the island of Ceylon was divided between the Portuguese Empire and the Kingdom of Kandy, who were in the midst of a war for...

 and served as journalist for a brief period before joining the legal profession, becoming an advocate

Advocate

An advocate is a term for a professional lawyer used in several different legal systems. These include Scotland, South Africa, India, Scandinavian jurisdictions, Israel, and the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...

 and practising law.

Balasundaram married Sinnammah, daughter of Sinnathamby. They had four sons (Gnanasanmugan, Yogasundaram, Balakrishnan and Sivajnandasundaram) and two daughters (Somasundaravalli and Yogeswari).

Political career

Balasundaram was the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi

Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi

Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi is a Sri Lankan political party which represents the Sri Lankan Tamil ethnic minority in the country. It was originally formed in 1949 as breakaway faction of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress...

 (Federal Party) candidate for Kopay

Kopay Electoral District

Kopay Electoral District was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between August 1947 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Kopay in Jaffna District, Northern Province. The 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka introduced the proportional representation electoral system for electing...

 at the March 1960 parliamentary election. He won the election and entered Parliament

Parliament of Ceylon

The Parliament of Ceylon was the legislative body of Ceylon established in 1947 by the Soulbury Constitution, prior to independence on 4 February 1948...

. He was re-elected at the July 1960 parliamentary election. He stood as an independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 candidate in Kopay at 1965 parliamentary election but was defeated.