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The by election for the city council was held on 26 July 1958 while the nomination day was set at 30 June 1958 when Workers' Party's City Council member, Chang Yuen Tong resigned his seat in Kallang.
The real reason was revealed by Lee Kuan Yew, leader of the People's Action Party at that time many years later on an interview. He revealed that it was because he met communist leader Fang Chuang Pi aka The Plen before the election and challenged the latter to "prove his credentials". However, things went drastically wrong when the communists withdrew their support.
The election deposit was stated at $250.
This is the only by-election for the City Council and also the last City Council election before its abolishment in 1959 when People's Action Party took power in order to prevent it to serve as a government pressure group.
With this arrangement since then, all of its functions were incorporated into statutory boards, only to see these functions to be transferred out of civil service hands in 1991 to the town councils, which are managed by the relevant elected Member of Parliament (MP).
| By-election 1957: Kallang | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| PAP | Buang bin Omar Junid | 4,279 | 52.0 | N/A | |
| LF | Lim Per Suan | 3,566 | 43.4 | +20.6 | |
| WP | Lo Ka Fat | 304 | 3.7 | -37.8 | |
| Independent | Govindapillai Maruthamuthoo Kanagasabai | 74 | 0.9 | N/A | |
| Majority | 713 | 8.6 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 8,331 | 58.2 | +11.9 | ||
| PAP gain from WP | Swing | N/A | |||
Notes: As both candidates Lo Ka Fat and Govindapillai had failed to achieve the minimum 12.5% of the votes, hence both candidates' election deposit was forfeited as a result.
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