Udupiddy Electoral District Explained

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

Key

ElectionMemberPartyTerm
1960 (March)M. SivasithamparamAll Ceylon Tamil Congress1960-1960
1960 (July)1960-1965
19651965-1970
1970K. JeyakodyIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi1970-1977
1977T. RasalingamTamil United Liberation Front1977-1989

Elections

1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election

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

align=left colspan=2 width="180"Candidate!align=left width="180"Party!align=left width="120"Symbol!align=left width="60"Votes!align=left width="60"%
bgcolor=  M. SivasithamparamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle7,36534.70%
bgcolor=  P. KandiahCommunist PartyStar5,42725.57%
bgcolor=  R. R. DharmaratnamLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey4,57321.55%
bgcolor=  K. JeyakodyIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[3] House3,86018.19%
align=left colspan=4Valid Votes21,225100.00%
align=left colspan=4Rejected Votes195
align=left colspan=4Total Polled21,420
align=left colspan=4Registered Electors28,620
align=left colspan=4Turnout74.84%

1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election

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

align=left colspan=2 width="180"Candidate!align=left width="180"Party!align=left width="120"Symbol!align=left width="60"Votes!align=left width="60"%
bgcolor=  M. SivasithamparamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle9,08044.80%
bgcolor=  K. JeyakodyIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse7,74138.20%
bgcolor=  S. JeyasinghamCommunist PartyStar3,44517.00%
align=left colspan=4Valid Votes20,266100.00%
align=left colspan=4Rejected Votes151
align=left colspan=4Total Polled20,417
align=left colspan=4Registered Electors28,620
align=left colspan=4Turnout71.34%

1965 Parliamentary General Election

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

align=left colspan=2 width="180"Candidate!align=left width="180"Party!align=left width="120"Symbol!align=left width="60"Votes!align=left width="60"%
bgcolor=  M. SivasithamparamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle12,00946.67%
bgcolor=  K. JeyakodyIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse8,45232.85%
bgcolor=  R. R. DharmaratnamLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey5,26820.47%
align=left colspan=4Valid Votes25,729100.00%
align=left colspan=4Rejected Votes137
align=left colspan=4Total Polled25,866
align=left colspan=4Registered Electors34,275
align=left colspan=4Turnout75.47%

1970 Parliamentary General Election

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

align=left colspan=2 width="180"Candidate!align=left width="180"Party!align=left width="120"Symbol!align=left width="60"Votes!align=left width="60"%
bgcolor=  K. JeyakodyIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse12,91846.54%
bgcolor=  M. SivasithamparamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle11,66242.02%
bgcolor=  P. KumaraswamyCommunist PartyStar1,1494.14%
K. PillainarIndependentPair of Scales7242.61%
bgcolor=  R. R. DharmaratnamLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey7122.57%
S. SundaramIndependentUmbrella5912.13%
align=left colspan=4Valid Votes27,756100.00%
align=left colspan=4Rejected Votes179
align=left colspan=4Total Polled27,935
align=left colspan=4Registered Electors34,741
align=left colspan=4Turnout80.41%

1977 Parliamentary General Election

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

align=left colspan=2 width="180"Candidate!align=left width="180"Party!align=left width="120"Symbol!align=left width="60"Votes!align=left width="60"%
bgcolor=  T. RasalingamTamil United Liberation FrontSun18,76863.44%
R. R. DharmaratnamIndependentLamp4,02113.59%
C. Motilal NehruPair of Scales2,7989.46%
S. SundaramOmnibus1,4785.00%
K. C. MahathevanUmbrella1,1884.02%
K. PillainarLadder5171.75%
M. ThurairajahEye4371.48%
P. KanagarasaChair2510.85%
M. GnanachandranClock1250.42%
align=left colspan=4Valid Votes29,583100.00%
align=left colspan=4Rejected Votes123
align=left colspan=4Total Polled29,706
align=left colspan=4Registered Electors36,955
align=left colspan=4Turnout80.38%

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]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Electoral System. Parliament of Sri Lanka. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20101127041829/http://parliament.lk/about_us/electoral_system.jsp. 2010-11-27.
  2. Web site: Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-03-19. Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150712194326/http://www.slelections.gov.lk/pdf/Results_1960_03_19%20GENERAL%20ELECTION.PDF. 2015-07-12.
  3. Also known as the Federal Party
  4. Web site: Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-07-20. Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150924115611/http://www.slelections.gov.lk/pdf/Results_1960_07_20%20GENERAL%20ELECTION.PDF. 2015-09-24.
  5. Web site: Result of Parliamentary General Election 1965. Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150713003440/http://www.slelections.gov.lk/pdf/Results_1965%20GENERAL%20ELECTION.PDF. 2015-07-13.
  6. Web site: Result of Parliamentary General Election 1970. Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20091209231958/http://www.slelections.gov.lk/pdf/Results_1970%20GENERAL%20ELECTION.PDF. 2009-12-09.
  7. Web site: Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977. Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110717002624/http://www.slelections.gov.lk/pdf/General%20Election%201977.PDF. 2011-07-17.
  8. News: Wickramasinghe. Wimal. Saga of crossovers, expulsions and resignations etc. Referendum for of Parliament. The Island, Sri Lanka. 18 January 2008.