Vaddukoddai Electoral District was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between August 1947 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Vaddukoddai in Jaffna 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. Vaddukoddai electoral district was replaced by the Jaffna multi-member electoral district at the 1989 general elections, the first under the PR system, though Vaddukoddai continues to be a polling division of the multi-member electoral district.
Members of Parliament Key
ElectionMemberPartyTerm 1947 K. Kanagaratnam All Ceylon Tamil Congress 1947-1952 1952 V. Veerasingam Independent 1952-1956 1956A. AmirthalingamIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi 1956-1960 1960 (March) 1960-1960 1960 (July) 1960-1965 1965 1965-1970 1970 A. Thiagarajah All Ceylon Tamil Congress 1970-1977 1977 T. Thirunavukarasu 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%K. KanagaratnamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressElephant11,72161.24V. VeerasingamUmbrella2,23411.67S. H. PerinpanayagamOmnibus1,7168.97V. ParamanayagamHand1,5408.05K. ChanmugamPair of Scales1,1005.75R. RagupathyLamp8274.32Valid Votes19,13898.59Rejected Votes274 1.41Total Polled19,412 100.00Registered Electors37,334Turnout52.00
1952 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 2nd parliamentary election held between 24 May 1952 and 30 May 1952:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes%V. VeerasingamIndependentBicycle5,68724.47K. KanagaratnamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressHand5,26122.64A. AmirthalingamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiAlso known as the Federal PartyPair of Scales4,50019.36Thillainathan RudraUmbrella3,03313.05C. RagunathanElephant2,46710.61A. VaidialingamKey2,2949.87Valid Votes23,24297.91Rejected Votes495 2.09Total Polled23,737 100.00Registered Electors34,135 Turnout69.54
1956 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 3rd parliamentary election held between 5 April 1956 and 10 April 1956:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes%A. AmirthalingamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse14,93757.92A. VaidialingamCommunist PartyStar10,85042.08Valid Votes25,78798.62Rejected Votes361 1.38Total Polled26,148 100.00Registered Electors35,927 Turnout72.78
1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election Results of the 4th parliamentary election held on 19 March 1960:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes%A. AmirthalingamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse11,52453.52Sanmugam SuntharasivamLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey3,61416.78A. VaidialingamCommunist PartyStar3,18014.77M. P. SangarapillaiAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle2,95513.72C. S. RatnasabapathySun2601.21Valid Votes21,53398.68Rejected Votes2891.32Total Polled21,822100.00Registered Electors28,955Turnout75.37
1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election Results of the 5th parliamentary election held on 20 July 1960:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes%A. AmirthalingamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse13,45472.10A. VaidialingamCommunist PartyStar5,20627.90Valid Votes18,66098.60Rejected Votes265 1.40Total Polled18,925100.00Registered Electors28,955Turnout65.36
1965 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 6th parliamentary election held on 22 March 1965:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes%A. AmirthalingamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse15,49860.78K. SubramaniamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle4,35917.09Arunasalam ThampipillayUmbrella4,08216.01I. R. AriaratnamCommunist PartyStar1,5616.12Valid Votes25,50098.88Rejected Votes290 1.12Total Polled25,790 100.00Registered Electors36,935Turnout69.83
1970 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 7th parliamentary election held on 27 May 1970:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes%A. ThiagarajahAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle14,35951.29A. AmirthalingamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse13,63448.71Valid Votes27,99399.36Rejected Votes181 0.64Total Polled28,174 100.00Registered Electors35,812Turnout78.67
1977 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 8th parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes%T. ThirunavukarasuTamil United Liberation FrontSun23,38470.18%A. ThiagarajahIndependentUmbrella5,17615.53V. RattaiEye3,1879.56V. RajasundaramPair of Scales8372.51N. RatnasingamElephant4801.44V. TharumalingamIndependentFlower1500.45M. AmbalavanarShip1070.32Valid Votes33,32199.60Rejected Votes1350.40Total Polled33,456100.00Registered Electors40,684Turnout82.23
T. Thirunavukarasu died on 1 August 1982. His replacement Neelan Tiruchelvam was sworn in on 8 March 1983.
Neelan Tiruchelvam 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, Tiruchelvam forfeited his seat in Parliament on 22 October 1983.
References & footnotes