Kopay Electoral District

Kopay Electoral District was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between August 1947 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Kopay 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.[1] Kopay electoral district was replaced by the Jaffna multi-member electoral district at the 1989 general elections, the first under the PR system, though Kopay continues to be a polling division of the multi-member electoral district.

Members of Parliament

Key

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

ElectionMemberPartyTerm
1947 C. Vanniasingam All Ceylon Tamil Congress 1947-1952
1952 Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi 1952-1956
1956 1956-1960
1960 (March) M. Balasundaram 1960-1960
1960 (July) 1960-1965
1965 S. Kathiravelupillai 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:[2]

CandidatePartySymbolVotes%
 C. VanniasingamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressElephant9,61958.90%
 S. RasaratnamUnited National PartyHand5,26632.24%
C. RagunathanIndependentCart Wheel1,4478.86%
Valid Votes16,332100.00%
Rejected Votes276
Total Polled16,608
Registered Electors32,999
Turnout50.33%

1952 Parliamentary General Election

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

CandidatePartySymbolVotes%
 C. VanniasingamIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4]Key9,41044.89%
 C. ArulampalamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressElephant9,20043.88%
R. R. DharmaratnamStar2,35411.23%
Valid Votes20,964100.00%
Rejected Votes283
Total Polled21,247
Registered Electors32,903
Turnout64.57%

1956 Parliamentary General Election

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

CandidatePartySymbolVotes%
 C. VanniasingamIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4]House12,80453.83%
C. ArulampalamUmbrella10,98346.17%
Valid Votes23,787100.00%
Rejected Votes304
Total Polled24,091
Registered Electors34,465
Turnout69.90%

C. Vanniasingam died on 17 September 1959.

1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election

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

CandidatePartySymbolVotes%
 M. BalasundaramIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4]House10,27948.63%
 T. GunaratnamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle4,93623.35%
S. K. NallathambySun3,49416.53%
 K. V. S. ShanmuganathanLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey1,7778.41%
 S. P. NadarajahCommunist PartyStar4582.17%
S. SivasubramaniamCockerel1920.91%
Valid Votes21,136100.00%
Rejected Votes351
Total Polled21,487
Registered Electors27,858
Turnout77.13%

1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election

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

CandidatePartySymbolVotes%
 M. BalasundaramIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4]House12,08867.64%
 T. GunaratnamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle5,78232.36%
Valid Votes17,870100.00%
Rejected Votes188
Total Polled18,058
Registered Electors27,858
Turnout64.82%

1965 Parliamentary General Election

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

CandidatePartySymbolVotes%
 S. KathiravelupillaiIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4]House12,33951.93%
 T. GunaratnamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle8,23034.64%
 M. ThurairajahLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey2,62511.05%
M. BalasundaramUmbrella5682.39%
Valid Votes23,762100.00%
Rejected Votes361
Total Polled24,123
Registered Electors33,091
Turnout72.90%

1970 Parliamentary General Election

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

CandidatePartySymbolVotes%
 S. KathiravelupillaiIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4]House16,42855.85%
 T. GunaratnamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle11,28838.38%
M. S. KanagasundaramPair of Scales9833.34%
 M. ThurairajahSri Lanka Freedom PartyHand7132.42%
Valid Votes29,412100.00%
Rejected Votes189
Total Polled29,601
Registered Electors37,464
Turnout79.01%

1977 Parliamentary General Election

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

CandidatePartySymbolVotes%
 S. KathiravelupillaiTamil United Liberation FrontSun25,84077.20%
 V. NadarajahLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey3,48710.42%
 S. JeganathanUnited National PartyElephant2,6998.06%
V. T. JeyadevanIndependentShip1,4444.31%
Valid Votes33,470100.00%
Rejected Votes149
Total Polled33,619
Registered Electors41,824
Turnout80.38%

S. Kathiravelupillai died on 31 March 1981. His replacement M. Alalasundaram was sworn in on 23 July 1981.[11]

M. Alalasundaram 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, Alalasundaram forfeited his seat in Parliament on 5 January 1984.[12]

M. Alalasundaram was murdered on 2 September 1985.[13]

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 2009-12-09.
  3. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1952" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  4. Also known as the Federal Party
  5. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1956" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  6. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-03-19" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  7. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-07-20" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  8. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1965" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  9. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1970" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
  10. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-17.
  11. KT Rajasingham (16 February 2002). "Chapter 27 - Horsewhip Amirthalingham". SRI LANKA: THE UNTOLD STORY. Asia Times. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  12. Wickramasinghe, Wimal (18 January 2008). "Saga of crossovers, expulsions and resignations etc. Referendum for extention [sic] of Parliament". The Island, Sri Lanka.
  13. KT Rajasingham. "Chapter 33: India shows its hand". SRI LANKA: THE UNTOLD STORY. Asia Times. Retrieved 23 March 2010.

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