Kayts Electoral District was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between August 1947 and February 1989. The district was named after the island of Kayts 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. Kayts electoral district was replaced by the Jaffna multi-member electoral district at the 1989 general elections, the first under the PR system, though Kayts continues to be a polling division of the multi-member electoral district.
Members of Parliament Key
ElectionMemberPartyTerm 1947Alfred Thambiayah Independent 1947-1952 1952 All Ceylon Tamil Congress 1952-1956 1956V. A. KandiahIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi1956-1963 1960 (March) 1960 (July) 1963V. Navaratnam1963-1970 1965 1970K. P. Ratnam 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% Alfred ThambiayahIndependentPair of Scales5,55231.01% A. V. KulasinghamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressHand5,23029.21% K. AmbalavnerUmbrella3,70120.67% Waithilingam DuraiswamyIndependentBicycle2,43813.62% J. C. AmerasinghamLamp9815.48%Valid Votes17,902100.00%Rejected Votes502Total Polled18,404Registered Electors33,045Turnout55.69%
1952 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 2nd parliamentary election held between 24 May 1952 and 30 May 1952:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% Alfred ThambiayahAll Ceylon Tamil CongressElephant9,51743.44% A. ThiagarajahIndependentPair of Scales5,64925.78% Clough BalasinghamIndependentBicycle5,09023.23% V. NavaratnamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiAlso known as the Federal PartyHand1,4206.48% Somasunderam SenathirajahIndependentKey2341.07%Valid Votes21,910100.00%Rejected Votes199Total Polled22,109Registered Electors30,138Turnout73.36%
1956 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 3rd parliamentary election held between 5 April 1956 and 10 April 1956:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% V. A. KandiahIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse16,30871.19% Alfred ThambiayahPair of Scales6,59928.81%Valid Votes22,907100.00%Rejected Votes189Total Polled23,096Registered Electors32,410Turnout71.26%
1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election Results of the 4th parliamentary election held on 19 March 1960:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% V. A. KandiahIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse10,82056.61% Alfred ThambiayahIndependentShip7,57439.63% V. V. NallathambyLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey7193.76%Valid Votes19,113100.00%Rejected Votes186Total Polled19,299Registered Electors25,616Turnout75.34%
1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election Results of the 5th parliamentary election held on 20 July 1960:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% V. A. KandiahIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse12,11081.93% S. SenathirajahAll Ceylon Tamil CongressShip2,67118.07%Valid Votes14,781100.00%Rejected Votes151Total Polled14,932Registered Electors25,616Turnout58.29%
V. A. Kandiah died on 4 June 1963.
1963 Parliamentary By-Election Results of the parliamentary by-election held in August 1963:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% V. NavaratnamIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi14,94676.46% A. G. RajasooriyarIndependent4,60223.54%Valid Votes19,548100.00%Rejected Votes143Total Polled19,691Registered Electors31,473Turnout62.56%
1965 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 6th parliamentary election held on 22 March 1965:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% V. NavaratnamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse13,55869.98% N. T. SivagnanamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle5,81630.02%Valid Votes19,374100.00%Rejected Votes170Total Polled19,544Registered Electors31,785Turnout61.49%
1970 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 7th parliamentary election held on 27 May 1970:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% K. P. RatnamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse13,07953.35% P. KathiraveluIndependentCockerel5,01320.45% V. NavaratnamIndependentPair of Scales4,75819.41% N. T. SivagnanamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle1,6676.80%Valid Votes24,517100.00%Rejected Votes95Total Polled24,612Registered Electors32,015Turnout76.88%
1977 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 8th parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% K. P. RatnamTamil United Liberation FrontSun17,64064.05% V. NavaratnamIndependentPair of Scales8,67331.49% M. AmirthalingamIndependentElephant6612.40% Yogendra DuraiswamyIndependentChair2791.01% Thambiah ParanirupasingamIndependentBell1850.67% K. KanagaratnamIndependentKey1030.37%Valid Votes27,541100.00%Rejected Votes132Total Polled27,673Registered Electors36,372Turnout76.08%
K. P. Ratnam 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, Ratnam forfeited his seat in Parliament on 22 October 1983.
References & footnotes