[1] He was the son of V. Coomaraswamy, a proctor and Tamil scholar from Tellippalai in northern Ceylon.

[2] Vanniasingam joined the legal profession as an advocate and practised law in Jaffna.

The dissidents, led by S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, E. M. V. Naganathan and Vanniasingam, eventually left the ACTC and formed the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party) in 1949.

[8] Following the 1958 riots, ITAK and the Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (National Liberation Front) were banned.

[9] ITAK's leaders, including Vanniasingam, were arrested on 4 June 1958 as they left Parliament and imprisoned.