Welimada Electoral District

Welimada electoral district was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between August 1947 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Welimada in Badulla District, Uva Province. 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. Welimada electoral district was replaced by the Badulla multi-member electoral district at the 1989 general elections, the first under the proportional representation system, though Badulla continues to be a polling division of the multi-member electoral district.

Members of Parliament

Key

  Independent   SLFP   UNP

Election		Member	Party	Term
	1947	K. D. Sugathadasa		1947-1952
	1952	M. B. Bambarapane	Independent	1952-1956
	1956	K. M. P. Rajaratne	Mahajana Eksath Peramuna	1956-1957
	1957 by-election	Kusuma Rajaratne	Independent	1957-1960
	1960 (March)	K. M. P. Rajaratne	National Liberation Front	1960
	1960 (July)			1960-1962
	1962 by-election			1962-1965
	1965	Percy Samaraweera	Independent	1965-1966
	1966 by-election			1966-1968
	1968 by-election			1968-1970
	1970	R. M. Bandara	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	1970-1977
	1977	Percy Samaraweera	United National Party	1977-1988
	1988 by-election	Ravindra Samaraweera	United National Party	1988-1989

Elections

1947 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 1st parliamentary election held between 23 August 1947 and 20 September 1947 for the district:

Candidate	Party	Symbol	Votes	%
K. D. Sugathadasa	Independent	Cartwheel	4,242	40.86
A. G. Divitotawela	United National Party	Hand	4,220	40.64
W. Pinto		Umbrella	1,517	14.61
Valid Votes			9,979	96.11
Rejected Votes			404	3.89
Total Polled			10,383	100.00
Registered Electors			19,978
Turnout				51.97

1952 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 2nd parliamentary election held between 24 May 1952 and 30 May 1952 for the district:

Candidate	Party	Symbol	Votes	%
M. B. Bambarapane	Independent	Key	6,314	40.69
K. D. David Perera	United National Party	Umbrella	5,118	32.98
K. M. P. Rajaratne	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	Elephant	3,327	21.44
G. P. Perera	Lanka Sama Samaja Party	Hand	423	2.73
Valid Votes			15,182	97.83
Rejected Votes			337	2.17
Total Polled			15,519	100.00
Registered Electors			21,220
Turnout				73.13

1956 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 3rd parliamentary election held between 5 April 1956 and 10 April 1956 for the district:

Candidate	Party	Symbol	Votes	%
K. M. P. Rajaratne	Mahajana Eksath Peramuna	Hand	12,336	69.98
M. B. Bambarapane	United National Party	Elephant	4,318	24.50
M. D. Perera		Cartwheel	770	4.37
Valid Votes			17,424	98.85
Rejected Votes			203	1.15
Total Polled			17,627	100.00
Registered Electors			27,774
Turnout				63.47

1957 Parliamentary By-election

Results of the parliamentary by-election held on 7 September 1957 for the district:

Candidate	Party	Symbol	Votes	%
Kusuma Rajaratne	Independent	Cartwheel	14,069	80.55
M. B. A. Jayasundara	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	Hand	2,616	14.98
K. L. Dalpathadu	United National Party	Elephant	642	3.68
Valid Votes			17,327	99.20
Rejected Votes			140
Total Polled			17,467	100.00
Registered Electors			27,774
Turnout				62.89

1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 4th parliamentary election held on 19 March 1960 for the district:

Candidate	Party	Symbol	Votes	%
K. M. P. Rajaratne	National Liberation Front	Aeroplane	6,539	53.83
A. G. Divitotawela	United National Party	Elephant	3,838	31.59
M. B. A. Jayasundera		Cartwheel	554	4.56
Wilfred de Silva		Key	549	4.52
K. M. K. P. S. A. Moulana		Ladder	229	1.89
B. Gabriel Perera		Scales	159	1.31
D. B. S. Dambadeniya		Umbrella	72	0.59
Valid Votes			11,940	98.29
Rejected Votes			208	1.71
Total Polled			12,148	100.00
Registered Electors			14,799
Turnout				82.09

1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 5th parliamentary election held on 20 July 1960 for the district:

Candidate	Party	Symbol	Votes	%
K. M. P. Rajaratne	National Liberation Front	Aeroplane	7,557	64.67
K. N. M. Punchi Banda	United National Party	Elephant	4,023	34.43
Valid Votes			11,580	99.09
Rejected Votes			106	0.91
Total Polled			11,686	100.00
Registered Electors			14,799
Turnout				78.96

1962 Parliamentary By-election

Results of the parliamentary by-election held on 28 June 1962 for the district:

Candidate	Party	Symbol	Votes	%
K. M. P. Rajaratne	National Liberation Front	Aeroplane	8,352	51.81
Percy Samaraweera	United National Party	Elephant	5,178	32.12
P. B. Ratnayake	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	Hand	2,496	15.48
Valid Votes			16,026	99.42
Rejected Votes			94	0.58
Total Polled			16,120	100.00
Registered Electors
Turnout

1965 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 6th parliamentary election held on 22 March 1965 for the district:

Candidate	Party	Symbol	Votes	%
Percy Samaraweera	Independent	Lamp	8,908	52.454
K. M. P. Rajaratne	National Liberation Front	Aeroplane	7,919	46.62
Valid Votes			16,827	99.07%
Rejected Votes			158	0.93
Total Polled			16,985	100.00
Registered Electors			20,122
Turnout				84.41

1970 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 7th parliamentary election held on 27 May 1970 for the district:

Candidate	Party	Symbol	Votes	%
R. M Bandara			uncontested
Valid Votes			-	-
Rejected Votes			-	-
Total Polled			-	-
Registered Electors
Turnout				-

1977 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 8th parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977 for the district:

Candidate	Party	Symbol	Votes	%
Percy Samaraweera	United National Party	Elephant	16,314	63.84
R. M Bandara	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	Hand	8,633	33.78
B. M. M. Banda		Star	386	1.51
A. R. Wijesinghe		Cartwheel	106	0.41
Valid Votes			25,439	99.55
Rejected Votes			116	0.45
Total Polled			25,555	100.00
Registered Electors			28,652
Turnout				89.19