Kayts Electoral District

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

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

Election		Member	Party	Term
	1947	Alfred Thambiayah	Independent	1947-1952
	1952		All Ceylon Tamil Congress	1952-1956
	1956	V. A. Kandiah	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi	1956-1963
	1960 (March)
	1960 (July)
	1963	V. Navaratnam		1963-1970
	1965
	1970	K. 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:

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	Alfred Thambiayah	Independent	Pair of Scales	5,552	31.01%
	A. V. Kulasingham	All Ceylon Tamil Congress	Hand	5,230	29.21%
	K. Ambalavner		Umbrella	3,701	20.67%
	Waithilingam Duraiswamy	Independent	Bicycle	2,438	13.62%
	J. C. Amerasingham		Lamp	981	5.48%
Valid Votes				17,902	100.00%
Rejected Votes				502
Total Polled				18,404
Registered Electors				33,045
Turnout				55.69%

1952 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	Alfred Thambiayah	All Ceylon Tamil Congress	Elephant	9,517	43.44%
	A. Thiagarajah	Independent	Pair of Scales	5,649	25.78%
	Clough Balasingham	Independent	Bicycle	5,090	23.23%
	V. Navaratnam	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi	Hand	1,420	6.48%
	Somasunderam Senathirajah	Independent	Key	234	1.07%
Valid Votes				21,910	100.00%
Rejected Votes				199
Total Polled				22,109
Registered Electors				30,138
Turnout				73.36%

1956 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	V. A. Kandiah	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi	House	16,308	71.19%
	Alfred Thambiayah		Pair of Scales	6,599	28.81%
Valid Votes				22,907	100.00%
Rejected Votes				189
Total Polled				23,096
Registered Electors				32,410
Turnout				71.26%

1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	V. A. Kandiah	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi	House	10,820	56.61%
	Alfred Thambiayah	Independent	Ship	7,574	39.63%
	V. V. Nallathamby	Lanka Sama Samaja Party	Key	719	3.76%
Valid Votes				19,113	100.00%
Rejected Votes				186
Total Polled				19,299
Registered Electors				25,616
Turnout				75.34%

1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	V. A. Kandiah	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi	House	12,110	81.93%
	S. Senathirajah	All Ceylon Tamil Congress	Ship	2,671	18.07%
Valid Votes				14,781	100.00%
Rejected Votes				151
Total Polled				14,932
Registered Electors				25,616
Turnout				58.29%

V. A. Kandiah died on 4 June 1963.

1963 Parliamentary By-Election

Results of the parliamentary by-election held in August 1963:

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	V. Navaratnam	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi		14,946	76.46%
	A. G. Rajasooriyar	Independent		4,602	23.54%
Valid Votes				19,548	100.00%
Rejected Votes				143
Total Polled				19,691
Registered Electors				31,473
Turnout				62.56%

1965 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	V. Navaratnam	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi	House	13,558	69.98%
	N. T. Sivagnanam	All Ceylon Tamil Congress	Bicycle	5,816	30.02%
Valid Votes				19,374	100.00%
Rejected Votes				170
Total Polled				19,544
Registered Electors				31,785
Turnout				61.49%

1970 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	K. P. Ratnam	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi	House	13,079	53.35%
	P. Kathiravelu	Independent	Cockerel	5,013	20.45%
	V. Navaratnam	Independent	Pair of Scales	4,758	19.41%
	N. T. Sivagnanam	All Ceylon Tamil Congress	Bicycle	1,667	6.80%
Valid Votes				24,517	100.00%
Rejected Votes				95
Total Polled				24,612
Registered Electors				32,015
Turnout				76.88%

1977 Parliamentary General Election

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

Candidate		Party	Symbol	Votes	%
	K. P. Ratnam	Tamil United Liberation Front	Sun	17,640	64.05%
	V. Navaratnam	Independent	Pair of Scales	8,673	31.49%
	M. Amirthalingam	Independent	Elephant	661	2.40%
	Yogendra Duraiswamy	Independent	Chair	279	1.01%
	Thambiah Paranirupasingam	Independent	Bell	185	0.67%
	K. Kanagaratnam	Independent	Key	103	0.37%
Valid Votes				27,541	100.00%
Rejected Votes				132
Total Polled				27,673
Registered Electors				36,372
Turnout				76.08%

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.