Chavakachcheri Electoral District

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

Members of Parliament

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Key

  ACTC   ITAK   TULF

Election Member Party Term
1947 V. Kumaraswamy All Ceylon Tamil Congress 1947-1956
1952
1956 V. N. Navaratnam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi 1956-1977
1960 (March)
1960 (July)
1965
1970
1977 Tamil United Liberation Front 1977-1989

Elections

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1947 Parliamentary General Election

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Results of the 1st parliamentary election held between 23 August 1947 and 20 September 1947:[2]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  V. Kumaraswamy All Ceylon Tamil Congress Pair of Scales 11,813 85.51%
  C. R. Thambiah United National Party House 2,002 14.49%
Valid Votes 13,815 100.00%
Rejected Votes 186
Total Polled 14,001
Registered Electors 28,377
Turnout 49.34%

1952 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  V. Kumaraswamy All Ceylon Tamil Congress Pair of Scales 14,801 72.33%
  Arunachalam Namasivayam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4] Bicycle 5,663 27.67%
Valid Votes 20,464 100.00%
Rejected Votes 168
Total Polled 20,632
Registered Electors 30,692
Turnout 67.22%

1956 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  V. N. Navaratnam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4] House 15,952 64.77%
V. Kumarasamy Pair of Scales 8,677 35.23%
Valid Votes 24,629 100.00%
Rejected Votes 206
Total Polled 24,835
Registered Electors 35,922
Turnout 66.14%

1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  V. N. Navaratnam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4] House 13,907 65.26%
  V. Kumaraswamy All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 6,930 32.52%
  A. S. Kanagaratnam Lanka Sama Samaja Party Key 473 2.22%
Valid Votes 21,310 100.00%
Rejected Votes 173
Total Polled 21,483
Registered Electors 25,822
Turnout 83.20%

1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  V. N. Navaratnam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4] House 14,799 86.00%
  S. K. Thiravianayagam All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 2,410 14.00%
Valid Votes 17,209 100.00%
Rejected Votes 135
Total Polled 17,344
Registered Electors 25,822
Turnout 67.17%

1965 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  V. N. Navaratnam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4] House 16,316 69.41%
  M. Sivananthan All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 7,191 30.59%
Valid Votes 23,507 100.00%
Rejected Votes 220
Total Polled 23,727
Registered Electors 30,452
Turnout 77.92%

1970 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  V. N. Navaratnam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4] House 15,473 54.49%
  V. Kumaraswamy All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 12,921 45.51%
Valid Votes 28,394 100.00%
Rejected Votes 84
Total Polled 28,478
Registered Electors 33,072
Turnout 86.11%

1977 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  V. N. Navaratnam Tamil United Liberation Front Sun 20,028 63.27%
V. Kumaraswamy Independent Pair of Scales 10,810 34.15%
S. P. Mailvaganam Eye 419 1.32%
Kandiah Asai Jerome Independent Omnibus 289 0.91%
Sathasivam Nadarajah Lamp 111 0.35%
Valid Votes 31,657 100.00%
Rejected Votes 91
Total Polled 31,748
Registered Electors 36,959
Turnout 85.90%

V. N. Navaratnam 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, Navaratnam forfeited his seat in Parliament on 22 October 1983.[11]

References & footnotes

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  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 2015-09-24.
  3. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1952" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24.
  4. ^ a b c d e f 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 2015-09-24.
  6. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-03-19" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-12.
  7. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-07-20" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24.
  8. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1965" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-13.
  9. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1970" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  10. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-17.
  11. ^ Wickramasinghe, Wimal (18 January 2008). "Saga of crossovers, expulsions and resignations etc. Referendum for extention [sic] of Parliament". The Island, Sri Lanka.[dead link]