1975 Kankesanthurai Electoral District by-election

Last updated

1975 Kankesanthurai Electoral District by-election
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
← 19706 February 19751977 →
Turnout86.68%
 
Candidate S. J. V. Chelvanayakam V. Ponnambalam
Party Tamil United Front Communist Party
Popular vote25,9279,457
Percentage72.55%26.46%
MP before election

S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi

Contents

Elected MP

S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
Tamil United Front

A by-election for the National State Assembly seat of the Kankesanthurai Electoral District , Jaffna District, Sri Lanka, was held on 6 February 1975. [1] [2] The election was characterised by increased tension and marked a turning point in the emergence of Tamil militancy.

Background

The incumbent Member of Parliament, the Tamil United Front S.J.V. Chelvanayakam, had resigned from his seat in October 1972 in protest against the new Constitution. Chelvanayakam argued that the by-election would function as a test of whether the new Constitution enjoyed popular support or not. [2] [3]

However the holding of the by-election was delayed. On 4 November 1973 Chelvayakam wrote to the Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, assuring her that the election would be held without violent disturbances. As the election continued to be postponed, the Tamil movement grew more and more restless and gradually lost faith in the parliamentary process. [3]

Candidates

The final date for nominations was 7 January 1975. [1] In the end the by-poll was fought between Chelvanayakam and the Communist Party candidate V. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam was the candidate of the governing United Front coalition. [4]

Rising tensions

The political climate in the Jaffna area (to which the constituency belonged) had become increasingly heated. [3] Calls for a separate Tamil homeland, 'Eelam', were heard from the electorate in run-up to the polls. [5] In the election campaign Chelvanayakam argued in favour of the Six Point Plan proposed by the Federal Party in 1972. Ponnambalam warned that a victory for Chelvanayakam would embolden separatist forces. [3] The Communist Party had pushed the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to agree that the demands for far-reaching autonomy (beyond the 1957 Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact) would be used in the electoral propaganda. However he promised printed material with this demand never arrived, to the frustration of Ponnambalam. [6]

The election campaign was marred with tension, and the government assigned a bodyguard for Ponnambalam for his protection. [7]

Amnesty

In 1974 forty-one Tamil youths, detained under emergency regulations, were released from jail in the run-up to the by-election. These amnesties on behalf of the government was a move seak appeasement. [8] [9]

Result

CandidatePartySymbolVotes%
  S.J.V. Chelvanayakam Tamil United Front House25,92772.55%
  V. Ponnampalam Communist Party Star9,45726.46%
M. AmbalavanarShip1850.52%
Valid Votes35,569100.00%
Rejected Votes168
Total Polled35,737
Registered Electors41,227
Turnout86.68%

[1]

Aftermath

Chelvanayakam had retained the seat with the biggest margin in the history of the constituency. [3] Chelvanayakam interpreted the election outcome as popular mandate for Tamil independence. [10] The statement made by Chelvanayakam on 7 February 1975 would mark a turning point in the history of the country, in which he justified the call for Tamil sovereignty. [11] [12] This statement marked the first formal pledge for a sovereign Tamil Eelam state. [13]

Subsequently the name of TUF was changed to 'Tamil United Liberation Front'. [10] In parliament, however, Chelvanayakam was not allowed to table his proposal for 'Eelam'. [5]

The by-election marked the end for the aspirations of the Sri Lankan left-wing in the North. However the vote for Ponnambalam was substantial, compared to the popular rejection in the area of Bandaranaike's government at time. Ponnambalam later stated that he regretted having stood in the election. [6] The election left him disillusioned with the Communist Party and the United Front, and he left withdrew from it. [6]

Related Research Articles

Ceylon Workers Congress Political party in Sri Lanka

The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) is a political party in Sri Lanka that has traditionally represented Sri Lankan Tamils of Indian origin working in the plantation sector of the economy.

G. G. Ponnambalam Sri Lankan Tamil politician (1901–1977)

Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and cabinet minister. He was the founder and leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), the first political party to represent the Ceylon Tamils.

S. J. V. Chelvanayakam Sri Lankan politician (1898–1977)

Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. He was the founder and leader of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) and Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and a political leader of the Ceylon Tamil community for more than two decades. Chelvanayakam has been described as a father figure to Ceylon's Tamils, to whom he was known as "Thanthai Chelva".

The origins of the Sri Lankan Civil War lie in the continuous political rancor between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Sri Lankan Tamils. Before and during the early part of colonial rule by Europeans, Sri Lanka was under the rule of three separate kingdoms. During the colonial rule by Portuguese and then the Dutch, the three sovereign states were ruled as separate entities. The final British colonial rule amalgamated the entire island into a single administrative entity after independence, and the minorities were handed over to the mercy of the majority. According to Jonathan Spencer, a social anthropologist from the School of Social and Political Studies of the University of Edinburgh, the war is an outcome of how modern ethnic identities have been made and re-made since the colonial period, with the political struggle between minority Tamils and the Sinhalese-dominant government accompanied by rhetorical wars over archeological sites and place name etymologies, and the political use of the national past.

Tamil Eelam Proposed independent state in Sri Lanka

Tamil Eelam is a proposed independent state that many Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora aspire to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka. The name is derived from the ancient Tamil name for Sri Lanka, Eelam. Tamil Eelam, although encompassing the traditional homelands of Sri Lankan Tamils, does not have official status or recognition by world states. Large sections of the North-East were under de facto control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for most of the 1990s–2000s during the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Kumar Ponnambalam Sri Lankan politician (1938-2000)

Gaasinather Gangaser Ponnambalam was a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. Leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, he was a presidential candidate in 1982. He was shot dead in January 2000 in an assassination many suspect to be ordered by President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Sri Lankan Vellalar is a caste in Sri Lanka, predominately found in the Jaffna peninsula and adjacent Vanni region, who comprise about half of the Sri Lankan Tamil population. They were traditionally involved in agriculture, but also included merchants, landowners and temple patrons. They also form part of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.

Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism is the conviction of the Sri Lankan Tamil people, a minority ethnic group in the South Asian island country of Sri Lanka, that they have the right to constitute an independent or autonomous political community. This idea has not always existed. Sri Lankan Tamil national awareness began during the era of British rule during the nineteenth century, as Tamil Hindu revivalists tried to counter Protestant missionary activity. The revivalists, led by Arumuga Navalar, used literacy as a tool to spread Hinduism and its principles.

The Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact was an agreement signed between the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and the leader of the main Tamil political party in Sri Lanka S. J. V. Chelvanayakam on July 26, 1957. It advocated the creation of a series of regional councils in Sri Lanka as a means to giving a certain level of autonomy to the Tamil people of the country, and was intended to solve the communal disagreements that were occurring in the country at the time.

E. M. V. Naganathan

Elangai Murugesu Vijayaretnam Naganathan was a Ceylon Tamil physician, politician, senator and Member of Parliament.

S. Kathiravelupillai

Sivasubramaniam Kathiravelupillai was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament.

V. Navaratnam

Vaithianathan Navaratnam was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament.

V. N. Navaratnam

Vallipuram Nallathamby Navaratnam was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament.

Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi Political party in Sri Lanka

Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi is a Sri Lankan political party which represents the Sri Lankan Tamil ethnic minority in the country. It was originally founded in 1949 as a breakaway faction of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC). In 1972, ITAK merged with the ACTC and Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) to form the Tamil United Front, which later changed its name to the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). ITAK remained dormant until 2004 when a split in the TULF resulted in ITAK being re-established as an active political party. ITAK is a constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance.

Sri Sabaratnam

Sundaram Sri Sabaratnam was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka.

The Vaddukoddai Resolution was adopted on 14 May 1976 in Pannakam near Vaddukoddai, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It called for the creation of an independent Tamil Eelam by the Tamil United Liberation Front under the leadership of S. J. V. Chelvanayakam.It was the first time the demand for a separate state was made prior to this Tamils only demanded devolution or power sharing. TULF contested the 1977 Sri Lankan parliamentary election on its demand for Tamil Eelam and won an overwhelming mandate in the Tamil areas, becoming the main opposition party in Sri Lanka, the only time a minority party has done so. It gave impetus to Tamil Nationalists who claimed it was a democratic endorsement of a separate state.

Cyrillus Xavier Martyn was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and Member of Parliament.

V. Ponnambalam

Vallipuram Ponnambalam was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and teacher. He was a prominent leader of the left-wing in northern Sri Lanka. He served as the secretary of the Jaffna District Committee of the Communist Party of Ceylon. Ponnambalam was noted for his 'clean image' as a political leader.

K. M. P. Rajaratne

Konara Mudiyanselage Podiappuhamy Rajaratne was a Ceylonese lawyer, politician and parliamentary secretary.

Jaganathan Tyagaraja was a Ceylon Tamil barrister, politician and member of the State Council of Ceylon.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Summary of By-Elections 1947 to 1988" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2009.
  2. 1 2 K. M. De Silva (1986). Managing ethnic tensions in multi-ethnic societies: Sri Lanka, 1880–1985 . University Press of America. p.  258. ISBN   978-0-8191-5397-5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 A. Jeyaratnam Wilson (January 1994). S.J.V. Chelvanayakam and the Crisis of Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism, 1947–1977: A Political Biography. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. p. 123. ISBN   978-1-85065-130-7.
  4. ↑ Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam (January 1988). The Break-up of Sri Lanka: The Sinhalese-Tamil Conflict. C. Hurst & Co. p. 88. ISBN   978-1-85065-033-1.
  5. 1 2 Strategic Analysis. Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses. April 1984. p. 411.
  6. 1 2 3 Hoole, Rajan; Thiranagama, Rajini (January 2001). "Chapter 3 – 1979 – 83: The Mounting Repression". Sri Lanka: the arrogance of power : myths, decadence & murder. University Teachers for Human Rights. pp. 11, 46. ISBN   978-955-9447-04-7. Ponnambalam expressed his regrets at having contested the 1975 election against such a venerable figure as S.J.V. Chelvanayakam
  7. ↑ Mahavalirajan, Rajan (November 2009). Tamil/Transnationalism a Convenient Concept. AuthorHouse. pp. 16–20. ISBN   978-1-4490-2005-7.
  8. ↑ M. R. Narayan Swamy (1 January 2002). Tigers of Lanka, from boys to guerrillas. Konark Publishers. p. 27.
  9. ↑ Gāmiṇi Samaranāyaka (2008). Political Violence in Sri Lanka, 1971–1987. Gyan Publishing House. p. 216. ISBN   978-81-212-1003-4.
  10. 1 2 Asoka Bandarage (6 November 2008). The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka: Terrorism, ethnicity, political economy. Taylor & Francis. p. 71. ISBN   978-0-203-88631-1.
  11. ↑ B. Raman; Observer Research Foundation. Chennai Chapter (1 January 2006). Sri Lanka, peace without process. Saṁskṛiti in association with Observer Research Foundation. p. 69. ISBN   978-81-87374-47-3.
  12. ↑ Daniel Bar-Tal (18 March 2013). Intractable Conflicts: Socio-Psychological Foundations and Dynamics. Cambridge University Press. p. 179. ISBN   978-0-521-86708-5.
  13. ↑ V. Suryanarayan (1 January 1991). Sri Lankan Crisis and India's Response. Patriot Publishers. p. 42. ISBN   978-81-7050-141-1.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.