Vavuniya Electoral District

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

Members of Parliament

Key

   Independent      All Ceylon Tamil Congress      Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi      Tamil United Liberation Front   

Election		Member	Party	Term
	1947	C. Suntharalingam	Independent	1947-1952
	1952			1952-1956
	1956			1956-1960
	1960 (March)			1960-1960
	1960 (July)	T. Sivasithamparam		1960-1965
	1965		All Ceylon Tamil Congress	1965-1970
	1970	X. M. Sellathambu	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi	1970-1977
	1977	T. Sivasithamparam	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. Suntharalingam	Independent	Tree	4,026	66.61%
	T. M. Sabaratnam	All Ceylon Tamil Congress	Spoon	2,018	33.39%
Valid Votes				6,044	100.00%
Rejected Votes				132
Total Polled				6,176
Registered Electors				11,099
Turnout				55.64%

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. Suntharalingam	Independent	Star	6,019	66.83%
	U. B. Dassanayake	Independent	Key	1,497	16.62%
	T. M. Sabaratnam	All Ceylon Tamil Congress	Umbrella	1,398	15.52%
	K. Vellupillai	Independent	Chair	93	1.03%
Valid Votes				9,007	100.00%
Rejected Votes				104
Total Polled				9,111
Registered Electors				13,093
Turnout				69.59%

1956 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	C. Suntharalingam	Ind (Tamil Resistance Front)	Tree	6,853	78.69%
	P. Tharmalingam	Independent	Cart Wheel	1,856	21.31%
Valid Votes				8,709	100.00%
Rejected Votes				69
Total Polled				8,778
Registered Electors				15,946
Turnout				55.05%

1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 4th parliamentary election held on 19 March 1960: ^[5]

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	T. Sivasithamparam	Independent	Sun	5,370	43.28%
	C. Suntharalingam	Independent	Ship	4,231	34.10%
	P. Muthiah		Orange	1,469	11.84%
	S. Subramaniam	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi [6]	House	1,338	10.78%
Valid Votes				12,408	100.00%
Rejected Votes				107
Total Polled				12,515
Registered Electors				18,469
Turnout				67.76%

1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	T. Sivasithamparam	Independent	Bicycle	7,393	57.71%
	G. B. Vincent	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi [6]	House	5,418	42.29%
Valid Votes				12,811	100.00%
Rejected Votes				56
Total Polled				12,867
Registered Electors				18,469
Turnout				69.67%

1965 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	T. Sivasithamparam	All Ceylon Tamil Congress	Bicycle	7,265	40.33%
	G. B. Vincent	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi [6]	House	4,512	25.05%
	C. Suntharalingam		Tree	3,952	21.94%
	V. Siriwardhana		Chair	872	4.84%
	Ariyawansa Goonasekera		Umbrella	744	4.13%
	W. S. Perera	Mahajana Eksath Peramuna	Cart Wheel	436	2.42%
	S. Sirinivasan	Independent	Pair of Scales	231	1.28%
Valid Votes				18,012	100.00%
Rejected Votes				130
Total Polled				18,142
Registered Electors				24,701
Turnout				73.45%

1970 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	X. M. Sellathambu	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi [6]	House	10,947	42.99%
	T. Sivasithamparam	All Ceylon Tamil Congress	Bicycle	10,674	41.92%
	S. Pathmanathan	Communist Party	Star	3,120	12.25%
	S. M. K. Subasinghe		Pair of Scales	584	2.29%
	A. D. A. Seneviratne		Tree	137	0.54%
Valid Votes				25,462	100.00%
Rejected Votes				116
Total Polled				25,578
Registered Electors				31,650
Turnout				80.82%

1977 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 8th parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977: ^[10]

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	T. Sivasithamparam	Tamil United Liberation Front	Sun	13,821	59.02%
	K. T. Pulendran	United National Party	Elephant	9,444	40.33%
	Udayarege Subasinghe		Eye	151	0.64%
Valid Votes				23,416	100.00%
Rejected Votes				80
Total Polled				23,496
Registered Electors				28,450
Turnout				82.59%

T. Sivasithamparam 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, Sivasithamparam forfeited his seat in Parliament on 5 October 1983. ^[11]

References & footnotes

1. "The Electoral System". Parliament of Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 2010-11-27. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
2. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1947" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2016-02-04.
3. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1952" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
4. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1956" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
5. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-03-19" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-12. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
6. Also known as the Federal Party
7. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-07-20" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
8. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1965" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-13. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
9. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1970" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
10. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
11. Wickramasinghe, Wimal (18 January 2008). "Saga of crossovers, expulsions and resignations etc. Referendum for extention[sic] of Parliament". The Island, Sri Lanka.