Seetha "Sita" Seneviratne (''née'' Molamure) (1914–1998) was a Ceylonese politician. She was a member of the

Senate of Ceylon The Senate was the upper chamber of the parliament of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Commission. The Senate was appointed and indirectly elected rather than directly elected. It was housed in the old Legislative Counci ...

and member of the

Parliament of Sri Lanka The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Shri Lanka Parlimenthuwa'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் ''Ila� ...

for

Balangoda Balangoda is a large town in Ratnapura District, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an urban council located away from Colombo and from Ratnapura on Colombo - Batticaloa Highway(A4). It is one of the largest towns of the Sabaragamuw ...

Early life and family

Seetha was the only child of Sir

Alexander Francis Molamure Sir Alexander Francis Molamure, (7 February 1888 – 25 January 1951) (commonly known as Sir Francis Molamure or A. F. Molamure) was a Ceylonese politician. He became the first speaker of both the State Council of Ceylon and Parliament of Ceyl ...

(the first

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of both the

State Council of Ceylon The State Council of Ceylon was the unicameral legislature for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), established in 1931 by the Donoughmore Constitution. The State Council gave universal adult franchise to the people of the colony for the first time. It r ...

and

Parliament of Ceylon The Parliament of Ceylon was the legislative body of British Ceylon & Dominion of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Constitution, prior to independence on 4 February 1948. Parliament replaced the State Council of Ceylon. ...

) and Lady

Adeline Adeline may refer to: People *Adeline (given name) *Yves-Marie Adeline (born 1960), French Catholic writer Places *Adeline, Illinois, village in Maryland Township, Ogle County, Illinois, US Arts and entertainment *Adeline Records, recording lab ...

(the first female member of

). She married Leopold James de S. Seneviratne of the

Ceylon Civil Service The Ceylon Civil Service, popularly known by its acronym CCS, was the premier civil service of the Government of Ceylon under British colonial rule and in the immediate post-independence period. Established in 1833, it functioned as part of the ...

, who went on the serve as Secretary to the Treasury. Their children were Lakshman Chandra ( PC) and Sunethra who married Sepala Ilangakoon, the Chairman and Managing Director of Mackwoods Estates, as well as the Chairman of the Tea Board.

Political career

In March 1965 she unsuccessfully contested in the Pelmadulla electorate at the 6th parliamentary election, as the

United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...

candidate, where she lost to the incumbent, W. A. Karunasena, of the

Sri Lanka Freedom Party The Sri Lanka Freedom Party ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය, translit=Śrī Laṁkā Nidahas Pakṣaya; ta, இலங்கை சுதந்திரக் கட்சி, translit=Ilaṅkai Cutantirak Ka� ...

by 3,340 votes. She again unsuccessfully contested the October 1967 by-election for Pelmadulla, this time against

Dharmadasa Wanniarachchi Dharmadasa Wanniarachchi ( si, ධර්මදාස වන්නිආරච්චි) (08 June 1921 - 5 October 2007) was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the seventh Governor of the North Western Province of Sri Lanka and a former member of the S ...

, who defeated her 12,627 votes to 9,842 votes. In 1967 she was appointed to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and had served as the Chairperson of the National Council for Child and Youth Welfare. She resigned from the Senate in April 1970. At the 7th parliamentary elections in May 1970 she ran as the United National Party candidate in the Balangoda electorate, and was elected the second member from Balangoda coming behind the

candidate,

Mallika Ratwatte Mallika Eslin Ratwatte (née Ellawala) (13 April 1932 – 18 May 2017) was a Ceylonese politician. She was a Member of Parliament from the Balangoda electorate. Early life and family Born Mallika Eslin Ellawala, to the Radala Ellawala family i ...

, 11,616 votes to 18,808 votes.

References

Sinhalese politicians Members of the Senate of Ceylon Members of the 7th Parliament of Ceylon Alumni of Bishop's College, Colombo United National Party politicians Women legislators in Sri Lanka 1914 births 1998 deaths {{SriLanka-bio-stub

Early life and family

Political career

See also

References