Mannar Electoral District

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

Members of Parliament

Key

  Independent   Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi   UNP   TULF

Election		Member	Party	Term
	1947	C. Sittampalam	Independent	1947-1952
	1952			1952-1956
	1956	V. A. Alegacone	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi	1956-1960
	1960 (March)			1960-1960
	1960 (July)			1960-1965
	1965			1965-1970
	1970			1970-1977
	1974	S. A. Raheem	United National Party	1970-1977
	1977	P. S. Soosaithasan	Tamil United Liberation Front	1977-1989

Elections

1947 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	C. Sittampalam	Independent	Key	5,877	59.97%
	J. Tyagaraja	United National Party	Umbrella	3,381	34.50%
	S. Viraspillai	Independent	Hand	542	5.53%
Valid Votes				9,800	100.00%
Rejected Votes				71
Total Polled				9,871
Registered Electors				14,587
Turnout				67.67%

1952 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	C. Sittampalam	Independent	Key	5,876	52.62%
	V. A. Alegacone	Independent	Star	5,290	47.38%
Valid Votes				11,166	100.00%
Rejected Votes				113
Total Polled				11,279
Registered Electors				14,959
Turnout				75.40%

1956 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	V. A. Alegacone	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi [5]	House	6,726	53.12%
	Sir Kanthiah Vaithianathan		Umbrella	4,857	38.36%
	C. Sittampalam	Independent	Bicycle	1,078	8.51%
Valid Votes				12,661	100.00%
Rejected Votes				105
Total Polled				12,766
Registered Electors				15,819
Turnout				80.70%

1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	V. A. Alegacone	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi [5]	House	6,463	47.37%
	S. H. Mohamed	Independent	Pot	4,587	33.62%
	Sabamalai John Mark		Cockerel	2,155	15.79%
	N. M. Abdul Caffoor		Pair of Spectacles	440	3.22%
Valid Votes				13,645	100.00%
Rejected Votes				126
Total Polled				13,771
Registered Electors				16,936
Turnout				81.31%

1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	V. A. Alegacone	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi [5]	House	7,307	55.79%
	S. H. Mohamed	United National Party	Elephant	5,790	44.21%
Valid Votes				13,097	100.00%
Rejected Votes				72
Total Polled				13,169
Registered Electors				16,936
Turnout				77.76%

1965 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	V. A. Alegacone	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi [5]	House	6,896	39.52%
	M. S. Abdul Raheem	Independent	Umbrella	6,040	34.61%
	Sabamalai John Mark		Pair of Spectacles	4,514	25.87%
Valid Votes				17,450	100.00%
Rejected Votes				121
Total Polled				17,571
Registered Electors				21,418
Turnout				82.04%

1970 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	V. A. Alegacone	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi [5]	House	10,697	48.98%
	S. A. Raheem	United National Party	Elephant	10,628	48.67%
	N. M. Abdul Cader	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	Hand	513	2.35%
Valid Votes				21,838	100.00%
Rejected Votes				127
Total Polled				21,965
Registered Electors				25,441
Turnout				86.34%

V. A. Alegacone died on 25 November 1973.

1974 Parliamentary by-Election

Results of the parliamentary by-election held on 25 February 1974: ^[10]

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	S. A. Raheem	United National Party	Elephant	12,974	49.05%
	S. M. Johan Mark	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi [5]	House	12,899	48.77%
	S. A. Cader	Independent	Sun	469	1.77%
	S. Percy Emmanuel		lamp	108	0.41%
Valid Votes			26,450	100%
Rejected Votes			130
Total Polled			26,580
Registered Electors			29,596
Turnout			89.81%

1977 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 8th parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977: ^[11]

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	P. S. Soosaithasan	Tamil United Liberation Front	Sun	15,141	51.58%
	M. S. Abdul Raheem	United National Party	Elephant	12,929	44.05%
	Sabamalai John Mark	Independent	Lamp	663	2.26%
	H. S. Dawood		Hand	478	1.63%
	M. Kanthasamy		Pair of Scales	141	0.48%
Valid Votes				29,352	100.00%
Rejected Votes				84
Total Polled				29,436
Registered Electors				31,767
Turnout				92.66%

P. S. Soosaithasan 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, Soosaithasan forfeited his seat in Parliament on 22 October 1983. ^[12]

References & footnotes

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. 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. "Results of the Parliamentary By-Elections Held Between 1947-1988" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
11. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-17.
12. Wickramasinghe, Wimal (18 January 2008). "Saga of crossovers, expulsions and resignations etc. Referendum for extention[sic] of Parliament". The Island, Sri Lanka.^{[ dead link ]}