Point Pedro Electoral District was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between August 1947 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Point Pedro in Jaffna District, Northern Province. Udupiddy Electoral District was carved out of the western part of the 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. Point Pedro electoral district was replaced by the Jaffna multi-member electoral district at the 1989 general elections, the first under the PR system, though Point Pedro continues to be a polling division of the multi-member electoral district.
Members of Parliament Key
ElectionMemberPartyTerm 1947T. RamalingamAll Ceylon Tamil Congress 1947-1952 1952 1952-1956 1956 P. Kandiah Communist Party of Ceylon 1956-1960 1960 (March)K. ThurairatnamIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi 1960-1960 1960 (July) 1960-1965 1965 1965-1970 1970 1970-1977 1977 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:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% T. RamalingamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressPair of Scales10,39643.51% S. "Jeyam" TharamakulasinghamLanka Sama Samaja PartyEye6,10825.56% V. SuppiahIndependentSpoon3,89716.31% P. KandiahCommunist PartyHand3,49214.62%Valid Votes23,893100.00%Rejected Votes446Total Polled24,339Registered Electors41,682Turnout58.39%
1952 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 2nd parliamentary election held between 24 May 1952 and 30 May 1952:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% T. RamalingamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressEye11,60941.54% P. KandiahCommunist PartyBicycle8,61730.83% K. C. NadarajahIndependentHand5,51219.72% Coomaraswamy BalasinghamLanka Sama Samaja PartyWheel2,2087.90%Valid Votes27,946100.00%Rejected Votes494Total Polled28,440Registered Electors43,219Turnout65.80%
1956 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 3rd parliamentary election held between 5 April 1956 and 10 April 1956:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% P. KandiahCommunist PartyStar14,38150.81% Murugesu SivasithamparamIndependentUmbrella8,06428.49% K. ThurairatnamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiAlso known as the Federal PartyHouse5,85920.70%Valid Votes28,304100.00%Rejected Votes317Total Polled28,621Registered Electors44,603Turnout64.17%
1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election Results of the 4th parliamentary election held on 19 March 1960:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% K. ThurairatnamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse5,67940.34% N. NadarajahAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle2,52117.91% T. JayadevanLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey2,10114.92% K. SenathirajahCommunist PartyStar1,55211.02% S. SundaralingamIndependentShip1,2268.71% S. KandiahSun1,0007.10%Valid Votes14,079100.00%Rejected Votes152Total Polled14,231Registered Electors19,408Turnout73.33%
1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election Results of the 5th parliamentary election held on 20 July 1960:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% K. ThurairatnamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse8,22667.46% N. NadarajahAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle3,96832.54%Valid Votes12,194100.00%Rejected Votes129Total Polled12,323Registered Electors19,408Turnout63.49%
1965 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 6th parliamentary election held on 22 March 1965:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% K. ThurairatnamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse7,56446.24% N. NadarajahAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle6,61440.43% K. Motilal NehruCommunist PartyStar2,18013.33%Valid Votes16,358100.00%Rejected Votes94Total Polled16,452Registered Electors22,972Turnout71.62%
1970 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 7th parliamentary election held on 27 May 1970:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% K. ThurairatnamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse9,21748.50% N. NadarajahAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle8,90246.85% P. KanagarasaPair of Scales5793.05% A. VisagaratnamCockerel3051.61%Valid Votes19,003100.00%Rejected Votes86Total Polled19,089Registered Electors24,006Turnout79.52%
1977 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 8th parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% K. ThurairatnamTamil United Liberation FrontSun12,98955.77% N. NadarajahIndependentUmbrella6,41927.56% M. P. VeeravaguIndependentPair of Scales3,06513.16% K. T. RajasinghamEye6142.64% K. S. MuthukumarasamyShip2040.88%Valid Votes23,291100.00%Rejected Votes75Total Polled23,366Registered Electors28,447Turnout82.14%
K. Thurairatnam 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, Thurairatnam forfeited his seat in Parliament on 5 January 1984.
References & footnotes