[2] ITAK was founded in late 1949 by three Ceylon Tamil parliamentarians, S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, C. Vanniasingam and Senator E. M. V. Naganathan, who had withdrawn from G. G. Ponnambalam's ACTC over the latter's decision to enter the United National Party (UNP) government of D. S.

[9] This caused the members of TULF who wished to remain with the TNA to resurrect the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi name.

In the 1956 election in which the SLFP-led leftist coalition swept to power, ITAK won 5.39% of the popular vote and 10 out of 95 seats in the Sri Lankan parliament.

In response to the Sinhala Only Act of 1956, ITAK MPs staged a satyagraha protest, but it was violently broke up by a Sinhalese mob.

In the March 1960 election in which the UNP became the largest party, ITAK won 5.80% of the popular vote and 15 out of 151 seats in the Sri Lankan parliament.

In the 1965 election in which the UNP became the largest party, ITAK won 5.38% of the popular vote and 14 out of 151 seats in the Sri Lankan parliament.

Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, the TULF was frequently blamed by nationalist Sinhalese politicians for acts of violence committed by militant groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

In fact, the TULF represented an older, more conservative generation of Tamils that felt independence could be achieved without violence, more rival than ally to youth groups like the LTTE who believed in armed conflict.

In October 1983, all the TULF legislators, numbering sixteen at the time, forfeited their seats in Parliament for refusing to swear an oath unconditionally renouncing support for a separate state in accordance with the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

During the 1980s, the LTTE began to see the TULF as a rival in its desire to be considered the sole representatives of the Tamils of the north and east.

Votes and seats won by TNA by electoral district In the 2010 Sri Lankan parliamentary election, in which the United People's Freedom Alliance , led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, retained power, the Tamil National Alliance, led by Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, won 2.9% of the popular vote and 14 out of 225 seats in the Sri Lankan parliament.