vanniasingam stood as the itak candidate in kopay at the 1952 parliamentary election and was re-elected. vanniasingam was one of only two itak mps and with itak leader chelvanayakam out of parliament vanniasingam functioned as the parliamentary leader of the party. he was re-elected at the 1956 parliamentary election. following the 1958 riots itak and the jathika vimukthi peramuna (national liberation front) were banned. itak's leaders, including vanniasingam, were arrested on 4 june 1958 as they left parliament and imprisoned .