Mahara Electoral District Explained

Mahara electoral district was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between March 1960 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Mahara in Gampaha District, Western 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.^[1] Mahara electoral district was replaced by the Gampaha multi-member electoral district at the 1989 general elections.

Members of Parliament

Key

Election		Member	Party	Term
	1960 (March)	S. K. K. Suriarachchi	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	1960
	1960 (July)			1960-1965
	1965			1965-1970
	1970			1970-1977
	1977	Tudor Gunasekara	United National Party	1977-1983
	1983 parliamentary by-election	Kamalawarana Jayakody	United National Party	1983-1988

Elections

1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election

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

align=left width="180"	Candidate!	align=left width="180"	Party!	align=left width="120"	Symbol!	align=left width="60"	Votes!	align=left width="60"	%
		Hand	15,098	51.99
Siridatta Jayakody		Elephant	9,002	30.99
G. P. Abeywickrema		Cartwheel	1,971	6.79
J. B. Siriwardena		Key	1,561	5.38
Olive Amarasekera		Umbrella	386	1.33
J. A. K. Perera		Star	297	1.02
R. A. Rupasinghe		Lamp	186	0.64
D. R. Jayamanne		Scales	147	0.51
D. C. Jayakody		Book	85	0.29
align=left colspan=3	Valid Votes	28,823	99.25
align=left colspan=3	Rejected Votes	218	0.75
align=left colspan=3	Total Polled	29,041	100.00
align=left colspan=3	Registered Electors	35,120
align=left colspan=4	Turnout	82.69

1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 5th parliamentary election held on 20 July 1960:^[3]

align=left width="180"	Candidate!	align=left width="180"	Party!	align=left width="120"	Symbol!	align=left width="60"	Votes!	align=left width="60"	%
		Hand	17,791	65.07
Oscar de Levera		Elephant	8,991	32.88
Dayapani Seneviratne		Cartwheel	416	1.52
align=left colspan=3	Valid Votes	27,198	99.47
align=left colspan=3	Rejected Votes	145	0.53
align=left colspan=3	Total Polled	27,143	100.00
align=left colspan=3	Registered Electors	35,120
align=left colspan=4	Turnout	77.86

1965 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 6th parliamentary election held on 22 March 1965:^[4]

align=left width="180"	Candidate!	align=left width="180"	Party!	align=left width="120"	Symbol!	align=left width="60"	Votes!	align=left width="60"	%
		Hand	20,573	55.49
D. S. Gunasekera		Elephant	15,665	42.25
Reginald Pieries		Chair	633	1.71
align=left colspan=3	Valid Votes	36,871	99.45
align=left colspan=3	Rejected Votes	204	0.55
align=left colspan=3	Total Polled	37,075	100.00
align=left colspan=3	Registered Electors	43,874
align=left colspan=4	Turnout	84.50

1970 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 7th parliamentary election held on 27 May 1970:^[5]

align=left width="180"	Candidate!	align=left width="180"	Party!	align=left width="120"	Symbol!	align=left width="60"	Votes!	align=left width="60"	%
		Hand	27,679	61.88
		Elephant	16,883	37.75
align=left colspan=3	Valid Votes	44,562	99.63
align=left colspan=3	Rejected Votes	167	0.37
align=left colspan=3	Total Polled	44,729	100.00
align=left colspan=3	Registered Electors	51,464
align=left colspan=4	Turnout	86.91

1977 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 8th parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977 for the district:^[6]

align=left width="180"	Candidate!	align=left width="180"	Party!	align=left width="120"	Symbol!	align=left width="60"	Votes!	align=left width="60"	%
		Elephant	25,016	51.42
		Hand	22,384	46.01
J. A. K. Perera		Star	935	1.92
K. P. D. Karunawansa		Chair	101	0.21
Ananda Maddumage		Lamp	98	0.20
align=left colspan=3	Valid Votes	48,534	99.75
align=left colspan=3	Rejected Votes	121	0.25
align=left colspan=3	Total Polled	48,655	100.00
align=left colspan=3	Registered Electors	54,264
align=left colspan=4	Turnout	89.66

1983 Parliamentary By-Election

In early 1983 Gunasekara resigned as the member for Mahara,^[7] with nominations being called to fill the vacancy, closing 22 April. The results of the 1983 parliamentary by-election held on 18 May for the electorate:^[8]

align=left width="180"	Candidate!	align=left width="180"	Party!	align=left width="120"	Symbol!	align=left width="60"	Votes!	align=left width="60"	%
		Elephant	24,944	47.99
		Hand	24,899	47.90
		Scales	1,837	3.53
R. P. G. Rajapakse		Butterfly	76	0.15
Loku Pulukkuttige Premadasa		Chair	48	0.09
align=left colspan=3	Valid Votes	51,804	99.66
align=left colspan=3	Rejected Votes	177	0.34
align=left colspan=3	Total Polled	51,981	100.00
align=left colspan=3	Registered Electors	65,660
align=left colspan=4	Turnout	79.17

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Electoral System. Parliament of Sri Lanka.
2. Web site: Result of Parliamentary General Election March 1960 . Department of Elections, Sri Lanka . 6 January 2019 .
3. Web site: Result of Parliamentary General Election July 1960 . Department of Elections, Sri Lanka . 6 January 2019 .
4. Web site: Result of Parliamentary General Election 1965 . Department of Elections, Sri Lanka . 6 January 2019 .
5. Web site: Result of Parliamentary General Election 1970 . Department of Elections, Sri Lanka . 6 January 2019 .
6. Web site: Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977 . Department of Elections, Sri Lanka .
7. Daily Report: South Asia. 22–40. 83. Foreign Broadcast Information Service. 1983. 22.
8. Web site: Result of the Parliamentary By-Elections held between 1947 and 1988 . Department of Elections, Sri Lanka .