The second election to the

Legislative Council of Ceylon The Legislative Council of Ceylon was the legislative body of British Ceylon, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1833, along with the Executive Council of Ceylon, on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission. It was the first f ...

was held 20 January 1917.Asia Times
/ref>

Background

In 1833 the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission created the Legislative Council of Ceylon, the first step in representative government in

British Ceylon British Ceylon ( si, බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ලංකාව, Britānya Laṃkāva; ta, பிரித்தானிய இலங்கை, Biritthāṉiya Ilaṅkai) was the British Crown colony of present-day Sri Lanka between ...

. Initially the Legislative Council consisted of 16 members: the British Governor, the five appointed members of the

Executive Council of Ceylon The Executive Council of Ceylon was the Executive Council created in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) by the British colonial administration on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission along with the Legislative Council of Ceylon in March ...

, four other government officials and six appointed unofficial members (three

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

ans, one

Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...

, one

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

and one

Burgher Burgher may refer to: * Burgher (social class), a medieval, early modern European title of a citizen of a town, and a social class from which city officials could be drawn ** Burgess (title), a resident of a burgh in northern Britain ** Grand Burg ...

). In 1889 the number of appointed unofficial members was increased to eight (three Europeans, one Low Country Sinhalese, one Kandyan Sinhalese, one Tamil, one

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and one Burgher). The Legislative Council was reformed in 1910 by the ''McCallum Reforms''. Membership was increased to 21 of which 11 were officially appointed and 10 were unofficial (two elected Europeans, one elected Burgher, one elected educated

Ceylonese Sri Lankan or Ceylonese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Sri Lanka * A person from Sri Lanka, see Demographics of Sri Lanka ** Sinhalese people, the ethnic majority ** Sri Lankan Tamils, an ethnic minority ** Sri L ...

, two appointed Low Country Sinhalese, two appointed Tamils, one appointed Kandyan Sinhalese and one appointed Muslim). Less than 3,000 Ceylonese were eligible to vote for the four elected unofficial members.

Unofficial members

The following were the elected unofficial members : * elected Ceylonese member – Ponnampalam Ramanathan was elected with 1704 votes while his opponent, J. S. Jayawardene received only 48. * appointed Tamil member – Arunachalam Sabapathy * appointed Muslim member –

Noordeen Hadjiar Mohamed Abdul Cadder Noordeen Hadjiar Mohamed Abdul Cadder (known as N. H. M. Abdul Cadder) (10 February 1879 – 29 August 1938) was a Ceylonese ( Sri Lankan) lawyer and legislator. He was an unofficial member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon representing the Muha ...

* appointed Low-Country Sinhalese member –

Marcus Fernando Sir Hilarion Marcus Fernando, FRCP (21 October 1864 – 18 December 1936) was a pre-independence Ceylonese statesman, physician and banker. He was a member of both the executive council and legislative council as well as the chairman of the Stat ...

* appointed Low-Country Sinhalese member – Wickelia Oswald Christopher Dissanayaka * appointed Up-Country Sinhalese member – Meedeniya Rajakaruna Senanayake

References

Parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

1917 in Ceylon 1917 elections in the British Empire January 1917 events {{SriLanka-stub