Kandy Municipal Council

Kandy Municipal Council මහනුවර මහ නගර සභාව கண்டி மாநகர சபை
Type
Type	Local authority
Houses	Unicameral
Term limits	Five years
History
Founded	1865
Leadership
Mayor of Kandy	Chandrasiri Wijenayake, NPP
Deputy Mayor	Ruwan Kumara, NPP
Leader of the Opposition	TBD,TBD
Municipal Commissioner	Amila Nawarathne
Structure
Seats	46
Political groups	Government   NPP (24) Opposition   SJB (11)   UNP (6)   SB (2)   SLPP (1)   UNA (1)   Ind (1)
Elections
Voting system	Mixed 60% First-past-the-post 40% closed list proportional representation
Last election	6 May 2025
Meeting place
Kandy Town Hall
Website
Kandy Municipal Council

The Kandy Municipal Council is the local council for Kandy, the second largest city of Sri Lanka. The council was formed under the Municipalities Ordinance of 1865 and first met in 1866. ^[1] The municipal council is the second oldest and largest local government authority in Sri Lanka. It has 46 elected representatives.

Kandy is a charter city, with a Mayor Council form of government. The Mayor of Kandy and council members are elected through local government elections held once in five years. Head of administration is the Municipal Commissioner, who handles day-to-day operations of the 16 departments that it is made up of.

The Municipal Council provides sewer, road management and waste management services, in case of water, electricity and telephone utility services the council liaises with the Water Supply and Drainage Board, the Ceylon Electricity Board and telephone service providers.

For much of its existence, the council was controlled by the centre-right United National Party. Only during 2011–2015 and since 2025 was the council controlled by another party.

Structure

In 2025, the number of seats of the council was increased to 46 and the National People's Power became the ruling party following the local government elections that year.

Political party		Council members
		1991	1997	2002	2006	2011	2018	2025
	NPP [a]	–	–	1	2	–	2	24	24 / 46
	SJB	–	–	–	–	–	–	11	11 / 46
	UNP	13	13	17	14	10	19	6	6 / 46
	SB	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	2 / 46
	SLPP	–	–	–	–	–	16	1	1 / 46
	UNA	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	1 / 46
	Ind	–	–	1	–	–	–	1	1 / 46
	UPFA [b]	11	10	5	8	13	3	–
	UPA	–	–	–	–	–	1	–
	SLMC	–	–	–	–	1	–	–
	MEP	–	1	–	–	–	–	–
Total		24	24	24	24	24	41	46

Wards

For electoral and administrative purposes, the Council is divided into 22 wards.

1. Yatiwawala (යටිවාවල)
2. Senkadagala (සෙංකඩගල)
3. Galewatta (ගාලේවත්ත)
4. Mavilmada (මාවිල්මඩ)
5. Mahaweli Uyana (මහවැලිඋයන)
6. Watapuluwa (වටපුළුව)
7. Wattarantenna (වට්ටාරන්තැන්න)
8. Mapanawatura (මාපනාවතුර)
9. Anniwatta Dodamwala (අනිවත්ත දොඩම්වල)
10. Asgiriya (අස්ගිරිය)
11. Poornawatte West (පූර්ණවත්ත බටහිර)
12. Mahaiyawa (මහයියාව)
13. Aruppola (අරුප්පල)
14. Buwelikada (බූවැලිකඩ)
15. Ampitiya (අම්පිටිය)
16. Malwatta (මල්වත්ත)
17. Deiyannewela (දෙයියන්නේවල)
18. Katukale (කටුකැලේ)
19. Suduhumpola (සුදුහුම්පොල)
20. Mulgampola (මුල්ගම්පල)
21. Bowala (බෝවල)
22. Gatambe (ගැටඹේ)

List of mayors

Main article: List of mayors of Kandy

Election results

2025 local government election

Results of the local government election held on 6 May 2025.

Alliances and parties		Votes	%	Seats
				Ward	PR	Total	+/-
	National People's Power (JVP)	21,566	46.38%	24	0	24	22
	Samagi Jana Balawegaya	12,906	27.76%	1	10	11	11
	United National Party	6,257	13.46%	0	6	6	13
	Sarvajana Balaya	1,836	3.95%	0	2	2	2
	Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	1,497	3.22%	0	1	1	15
	United National Alliance	999	2.15%	0	1	1	1
	Independent Group 2	587	1.68%	0	1	1	1
	Independent Group 1	374	0.80%	0	0	0
	United Republican Front	254	0.55%	0	0	0
Total		46,499	100.00%	25	21	46	5
Valid votes		46,499	97.77%
Rejected votes		1,059	2.23%
Total votes		47,558	100.00%
Registered voters/turnout		85,000	55.95%

2018 local government election

Results of the local government election held on 10 Februaary 2018.

Alliances and parties		Votes	%	Seats
				Ward	PR	Total	+/-
	United National Party	26,798	44.88%	14	5	19	9
	Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	23,300	39.02%	11	5	16	16
	United People's Freedom Alliance	4,486	7.51%	0	3	3	10
	Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna	3,144	5.27%	0	2	2	2
	United Progressive Alliance	1,982	3.32%	0	1	1	1
Total		59,710	100.00%	25	16	41	17
Valid votes		59,710	97.70%
Rejected votes		1,408	2.30%
Total votes		61,118	100.00%
Registered voters/turnout		81,296	75.18%

2011 Local government election

Results of the local government election held in 2011.

Alliances and parties		Votes	%	Seats	+/-
	United People's Freedom Alliance	23,189	49.78%	13	5
	United National Party	20,087	43.12%	10	4
	Sri Lanka Muslim Congress	1,248	2.68%	1	1
	Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna	746	1.60%	0	2
	Independent Group 4	711	1.53%	0
	Okkoma Wasiyo Okkoma Rajawaru Sanvidanaya	233	0.50%	0
	Independent Group 1	228	0.49%	0
	United Socialist Party	99	0.21%	0
	Independent Group 2	18	0.04%	0
	Patriotic National Front	10	0.02%	0
	Independent Group 5	8	0.02%	0
	Independent Group 3	2	0.00%	0
Valid Votes		46,579	97.36%	24
Rejected Votes		1,265
Total Polled		47,844
Registered Electors		74,073
Turnout		64.14%

2006 Local government election

Results of the local government election held in 2006.

Alliances and parties		Votes	%	Seats	+/-
	United National Party	21,963	53.32%	14	3
	United People's Freedom Alliance	15,164	36.81%	8	3
	Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna	2,858	6.94%	2	1
	Jathika Hela Urumaya	825	2.00%	0
	Democratic Unity Alliance	162	0.39%	0
	National Development Front	145	0.35%	0
	Independent Group 1	68	0.17%	0
	Independent Group 2	5	0.01%	0
Valid Votes		41,190	96.77%	24
Rejected Votes		1,374
Total Polled		42,564
Registered Electors		69,601
Turnout		61.15%

2002 Local government election

Results of the local government election held on 20th March 2002.

Alliances and parties		Votes	%	Seats	+/-
	United National Party	29,241	68.88%	17	4
	People's Alliance	10,324	24.32%	5	5
	Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna	1,436	3.38%	1	1
	Independent Group 2	955	2.25%	1	1
	Sinhala Urumaya	340	0.80%	0
	New Left Front	95	0.22%	0
	National Development Front	52	0.12%	0
	Independent Group 1	10	0.02%	0
Valid Votes		42,453	96.55%	24
Rejected Votes		1,517
Total Polled		43,970
Registered Electors		65,432
Turnout		67.20%

See also

• Municipal councils of Sri Lanka

References

1. ". Kandy City ". Archived from the original on 25 September 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2010.

Notes

1. As JVP in 1997, 2002, 2006, 2011 and 2018.
2. As SLFP in 1991 and as PA in 1997, 2002 and 2025.