Udupiddy Electoral District was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between March 1960 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Udupiddy in Jaffna District, Northern Province. The district was carved out of the western part of Point Pedro Electoral 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. Udupiddy electoral district was replaced by the Jaffna multi-member electoral district at the 1989 general elections, the first under the PR system, though Udupiddy continues to be a polling division of the multi-member electoral district.
Members of Parliament Key
ElectionMemberPartyTerm 1960 (March)M. SivasithamparamAll Ceylon Tamil Congress 1960-1960 1960 (July) 1960-1965 1965 1965-1970 1970 K. Jeyakody Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi 1970-1977 1977 T. Rasalingam Tamil United Liberation Front 1977-1989
Elections 1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election Results of the 4th parliamentary election held on 19 March 1960:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% M. SivasithamparamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle7,36534.70% P. KandiahCommunist PartyStar5,42725.57% R. R. DharmaratnamLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey4,57321.55% K. JeyakodyIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiAlso known as the Federal PartyHouse3,86018.19%Valid Votes21,225100.00%Rejected Votes195Total Polled21,420Registered Electors28,620Turnout74.84%
1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election Results of the 5th parliamentary election held on 20 July 1960:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% M. SivasithamparamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle9,08044.80% K. JeyakodyIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse7,74138.20% S. JeyasinghamCommunist PartyStar3,44517.00%Valid Votes20,266100.00%Rejected Votes151Total Polled20,417Registered Electors28,620Turnout71.34%
1965 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 6th parliamentary election held on 22 March 1965:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% M. SivasithamparamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle12,00946.67% K. JeyakodyIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse8,45232.85% R. R. DharmaratnamLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey5,26820.47%Valid Votes25,729100.00%Rejected Votes137Total Polled25,866Registered Electors34,275Turnout75.47%
1970 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 7th parliamentary election held on 27 May 1970:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% K. JeyakodyIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse12,91846.54% M. SivasithamparamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle11,66242.02% P. KumaraswamyCommunist PartyStar1,1494.14% K. PillainarIndependentPair of Scales7242.61% R. R. DharmaratnamLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey7122.57% S. SundaramIndependentUmbrella5912.13%Valid Votes27,756100.00%Rejected Votes179Total Polled27,935Registered Electors34,741Turnout80.41%
1977 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 8th parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% T. RasalingamTamil United Liberation FrontSun18,76863.44% R. R. DharmaratnamIndependentLamp4,02113.59% C. Motilal NehruPair of Scales2,7989.46% S. SundaramOmnibus1,4785.00% K. C. MahathevanUmbrella1,1884.02% K. PillainarLadder5171.75% M. ThurairajahEye4371.48% P. KanagarasaChair2510.85% M. GnanachandranClock1250.42%Valid Votes29,583100.00%Rejected Votes123Total Polled29,706Registered Electors36,955Turnout80.38%
T. Rasalingam 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, Rasalingam forfeited his seat in Parliament on 21 October 1983.
References & footnotes