Point Pedro Electoral District

Point Pedro Electoral District was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between August 1947 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Point Pedro in Jaffna District, Northern Province. Udupiddy Electoral District was carved out of the western part of the 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] Point Pedro electoral district was replaced by the Jaffna multi-member electoral district at the 1989 general elections, the first under the PR system, though Point Pedro continues to be a polling division of the multi-member electoral district.

Members of Parliament

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Key

  ACTC   Communist Party   ITAK   TULF

Election Member Party Term
1947 T. Ramalingam All Ceylon Tamil Congress 1947-1952
1952 1952-1956
1956 P. Kandiah Communist Party of Ceylon 1956-1960
1960 (March) K. Thurairatnam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi 1960-1960
1960 (July) 1960-1965
1965 1965-1970
1970 1970-1977
1977 Tamil United Liberation Front 1977-1989

Elections

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1947 Parliamentary General Election

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Results of the 1st parliamentary election held between 23 August 1947 and 20 September 1947:[2]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  T. Ramalingam All Ceylon Tamil Congress Pair of Scales 10,396 43.51%
  S. "Jeyam" Tharamakulasingham Lanka Sama Samaja Party Eye 6,108 25.56%
V. Suppiah Independent Spoon 3,897 16.31%
  P. Kandiah Communist Party Hand 3,492 14.62%
Valid Votes 23,893 100.00%
Rejected Votes 446
Total Polled 24,339
Registered Electors 41,682
Turnout 58.39%

1952 Parliamentary General Election

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Results of the 2nd parliamentary election held between 24 May 1952 and 30 May 1952:[3]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  T. Ramalingam All Ceylon Tamil Congress Eye 11,609 41.54%
  P. Kandiah Communist Party Bicycle 8,617 30.83%
K. C. Nadarajah Independent Hand 5,512 19.72%
  Coomaraswamy Balasingham Lanka Sama Samaja Party Wheel 2,208 7.90%
Valid Votes 27,946 100.00%
Rejected Votes 494
Total Polled 28,440
Registered Electors 43,219
Turnout 65.80%

1956 Parliamentary General Election

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Results of the 3rd parliamentary election held between 5 April 1956 and 10 April 1956:[4]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  P. Kandiah Communist Party Star 14,381 50.81%
Murugesu Sivasithamparam Independent Umbrella 8,064 28.49%
  K. Thurairatnam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[5] House 5,859 20.70%
Valid Votes 28,304 100.00%
Rejected Votes 317
Total Polled 28,621
Registered Electors 44,603
Turnout 64.17%

1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election

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Results of the 4th parliamentary election held on 19 March 1960:[6]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  K. Thurairatnam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[5] House 5,679 40.34%
  N. Nadarajah All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 2,521 17.91%
  T. Jayadevan Lanka Sama Samaja Party Key 2,101 14.92%
  K. Senathirajah Communist Party Star 1,552 11.02%
S. Sundaralingam Independent Ship 1,226 8.71%
S. Kandiah Sun 1,000 7.10%
Valid Votes 14,079 100.00%
Rejected Votes 152
Total Polled 14,231
Registered Electors 19,408
Turnout 73.33%

1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election

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Results of the 5th parliamentary election held on 20 July 1960:[7]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  K. Thurairatnam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[5] House 8,226 67.46%
  N. Nadarajah All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 3,968 32.54%
Valid Votes 12,194 100.00%
Rejected Votes 129
Total Polled 12,323
Registered Electors 19,408
Turnout 63.49%

1965 Parliamentary General Election

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Results of the 6th parliamentary election held on 22 March 1965:[8]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  K. Thurairatnam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[5] House 7,564 46.24%
  N. Nadarajah All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 6,614 40.43%
  K. Motilal Nehru Communist Party Star 2,180 13.33%
Valid Votes 16,358 100.00%
Rejected Votes 94
Total Polled 16,452
Registered Electors 22,972
Turnout 71.62%

1970 Parliamentary General Election

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Results of the 7th parliamentary election held on 27 May 1970:[9]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  K. Thurairatnam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[5] House 9,217 48.50%
  N. Nadarajah All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 8,902 46.85%
P. Kanagarasa Pair of Scales 579 3.05%
A. Visagaratnam Cockerel 305 1.61%
Valid Votes 19,003 100.00%
Rejected Votes 86
Total Polled 19,089
Registered Electors 24,006
Turnout 79.52%

1977 Parliamentary General Election

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Results of the 8th parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977:[10]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  K. Thurairatnam Tamil United Liberation Front Sun 12,989 55.77%
N. Nadarajah Independent Umbrella 6,419 27.56%
M. P. Veeravagu Independent Pair of Scales 3,065 13.16%
K. T. Rajasingham Eye 614 2.64%
K. S. Muthukumarasamy Ship 204 0.88%
Valid Votes 23,291 100.00%
Rejected Votes 75
Total Polled 23,366
Registered Electors 28,447
Turnout 82.14%

K. Thurairatnam 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, Thurairatnam forfeited his seat in Parliament on 5 January 1984.[11]

References & footnotes

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  1. ^ "The Electoral System". Parliament of Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 2010-11-27.
  2. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1947" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24.
  3. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1952" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24.
  4. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1956" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24.
  5. ^ a b c d e Also known as the Federal Party
  6. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-03-19" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-12.
  7. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-07-20" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24.
  8. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1965" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-13.
  9. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1970" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  10. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-17.
  11. ^ Wickramasinghe, Wimal (18 January 2008). "Saga of crossovers, expulsions and resignations etc. Referendum for extention [sic] of Parliament". The Island, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 17 June 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.

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