Udupiddy Electoral District

Udupiddy Electoral District was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between March 1960 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Udupiddy in Jaffna District, Northern Province. The district was carved out of the western part of Point Pedro Electoral District in March 1960. The 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka introduced the proportional representation electoral system for electing members of Parliament. The existing 160 mainly single-member electoral districts were replaced with 22 multi-member electoral districts.[1] Udupiddy electoral district was replaced by the Jaffna multi-member electoral district at the 1989 general elections, the first under the PR system, though Udupiddy continues to be a polling division of the multi-member electoral district.

Members of Parliament edit

Key

  All Ceylon Tamil Congress   Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi   TULF

Election Member Party Term
1960 (March) M. Sivasithamparam All Ceylon Tamil Congress 1960-1960
1960 (July) 1960-1965
1965 1965-1970
1970 K. Jeyakody Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi 1970-1977
1977 T. Rasalingam Tamil United Liberation Front 1977-1989

Elections edit

1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election edit

Results of the 4th parliamentary election held on 19 March 1960:[2]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  M. Sivasithamparam All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 7,365 34.70%
  P. Kandiah Communist Party Star 5,427 25.57%
  R. R. Dharmaratnam Lanka Sama Samaja Party Key 4,573 21.55%
  K. Jeyakody Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[3] House 3,860 18.19%
Valid Votes 21,225 100.00%
Rejected Votes 195
Total Polled 21,420
Registered Electors 28,620
Turnout 74.84%

1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election edit

Results of the 5th parliamentary election held on 20 July 1960:[4]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  M. Sivasithamparam All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 9,080 44.80%
  K. Jeyakody Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[3] House 7,741 38.20%
  S. Jeyasingham Communist Party Star 3,445 17.00%
Valid Votes 20,266 100.00%
Rejected Votes 151
Total Polled 20,417
Registered Electors 28,620
Turnout 71.34%

1965 Parliamentary General Election edit

Results of the 6th parliamentary election held on 22 March 1965:[5]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  M. Sivasithamparam All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 12,009 46.67%
  K. Jeyakody Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[3] House 8,452 32.85%
  R. R. Dharmaratnam Lanka Sama Samaja Party Key 5,268 20.47%
Valid Votes 25,729 100.00%
Rejected Votes 137
Total Polled 25,866
Registered Electors 34,275
Turnout 75.47%

1970 Parliamentary General Election edit

Results of the 7th parliamentary election held on 27 May 1970:[6]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  K. Jeyakody Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[3] House 12,918 46.54%
  M. Sivasithamparam All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 11,662 42.02%
  P. Kumaraswamy Communist Party Star 1,149 4.14%
K. Pillainar Independent Pair of Scales 724 2.61%
  R. R. Dharmaratnam Lanka Sama Samaja Party Key 712 2.57%
S. Sundaram Independent Umbrella 591 2.13%
Valid Votes 27,756 100.00%
Rejected Votes 179
Total Polled 27,935
Registered Electors 34,741
Turnout 80.41%

1977 Parliamentary General Election edit

Results of the 8th parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977:[7]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  T. Rasalingam Tamil United Liberation Front Sun 18,768 63.44%
R. R. Dharmaratnam Independent Lamp 4,021 13.59%
C. Motilal Nehru Pair of Scales 2,798 9.46%
S. Sundaram Omnibus 1,478 5.00%
K. C. Mahathevan Umbrella 1,188 4.02%
K. Pillainar Ladder 517 1.75%
M. Thurairajah Eye 437 1.48%
P. Kanagarasa Chair 251 0.85%
M. Gnanachandran Clock 125 0.42%
Valid Votes 29,583 100.00%
Rejected Votes 123
Total Polled 29,706
Registered Electors 36,955
Turnout 80.38%

T. Rasalingam and all other TULF MPs boycotted Parliament from the middle of 1983 for a number of reasons: they were under pressure from Sri Lankan Tamil militants not to stay in Parliament beyond their normal six-year term; the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka required them to swear an oath unconditionally renouncing support for a separate state; and the Black July riots in which up to 3,000 Tamils were murdered by Sinhalese mobs. After three months of absence, Rasalingam forfeited his seat in Parliament on 21 October 1983.[8]

References & footnotes edit

  1. ^ "The Electoral System". Parliament of Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 2010-11-27.
  2. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-03-19" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-12.
  3. ^ a b c d Also known as the Federal Party
  4. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-07-20" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24.
  5. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1965" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-13.
  6. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1970" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  7. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-17.
  8. ^ Wickramasinghe, Wimal (18 January 2008). "Saga of crossovers, expulsions and resignations etc. Referendum for extention [sic] of Parliament". The Island, Sri Lanka.