A century after the first ‘election’ of the Legislative Council
Dhanesh Wisumperuma
The Nation, 2011.12.11
https://www.nation.lk/2011/12/11/eyefea6.htm (Article 1 on the page)
December 12 and 13 of this year mark the 100th year anniversary of the first ever election held in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) to elect members to the Legislative Council of Ceylon. Although it was an island-wide election, only a small percentage of the total population was eligible to vote, as voters were selected through strictly defined criteria. However, the 1911 election can be considered a milestone in the history of democracy in the country.
The elective principle was introduced to Ceylon in 1911 with the constitutional reforms of 1910, widely known as McCallum reforms, after Henry McCallum the then Governor. But it is sometimes mentioned as Crewe-McCallum reforms after Earl of Crewe (Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes), who was the Secretary of State for the Colonies in the United Kingdom. According to records it was Crewe who actually supported the introduction of the elective principle while the Governor of Ceylon and some of the local leaders opposed it. The compromised solution was to introduce elections where only a limited number can vote, based on strict criteria, mentioned below.
The Legislative Council of Ceylon was established in 1833 on a recommendation of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission as the legislative body under the British administration along with the Executive Council. The number of representatives of the Legislative Council increased with time, but they were all nominated by the Governor. However, with the reforms of 1910, four of the ten unofficial members were to be elected by an election. The balance six unofficial members were to be nominated by the governor on the basis of ethnicity – two low country Sinhalese, two Tamils, a Kandyan Sinhalese and a Moor. There were 11 official members, almost all British by nationality, who held the post based on their official capacity as Civil Servants. The Council consisted of a total of 21 members.
The elective principle was introduced to Ceylon in 1911 with the constitutional reforms of 1910, widely known as McCallum reforms, after Henry McCallum the then Governor. But it is sometimes mentioned as Crewe-McCallum reforms after Earl of Crewe (Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes), who was the Secretary of State for the Colonies in the United Kingdom. According to records it was Crewe who actually supported the introduction of the elective principle while the Governor of Ceylon and some of the local leaders opposed it. The compromised solution was to introduce elections where only a limited number can vote, based on strict criteria, mentioned below.
The Legislative Council of Ceylon was established in 1833 on a recommendation of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission as the legislative body under the British administration along with the Executive Council. The number of representatives of the Legislative Council increased with time, but they were all nominated by the Governor. However, with the reforms of 1910, four of the ten unofficial members were to be elected by an election. The balance six unofficial members were to be nominated by the governor on the basis of ethnicity – two low country Sinhalese, two Tamils, a Kandyan Sinhalese and a Moor. There were 11 official members, almost all British by nationality, who held the post based on their official capacity as Civil Servants. The Council consisted of a total of 21 members.
Election and electorates
The 1911 election was held to elect the four unofficial members mentioned above for the following four electorates - two for European electorates (European urban and European rural) one for the Burgher electorate and one for the Ceylonese electorate. It seems that the electorates were defined by the voters and were not demarcated geographically as today. The regulations relating to the election were published in the Ordinance 13 of 1910, which is known as Legislative Council Ordinance. The ordinance provides criteria for eligible candidates, for voters and the details of the election procedure.
European seats were for the Europeans who were in Sri Lanka and registered Europeans were eligible to vote. Burghers, who were a privileged group of society in Sri Lanka, were to vote to elect a Burgher representative. Burghers of paternal or maternal descent with certain other qualifications such as ability to read write and speak English were able to vote in the Burgher electorate. All other eligible Ceylonese were to elect the representative for the Ceylonese electorate. The voters were selected based on certain educational and professional backgrounds – a fact which made this election go down in history as the “Educated Ceylonese” election.
When the nominations were called both Europeans seats were filled without any election as there was only one nomination for each. Hence an election was necessary for the Burgher electorate and the Ceylonese electorate. 2149 and 2934 voters were eligible to vote for the Burgher and Ceylonese electorates respectively. A revised register of voters was published on Ceylon Government Gazette No. 6468, on October 27, 1911, in which the names of all eligible voters and their addresses are given (including Europeans) according to their respective polling station (there is a difference in the list and the actual eligible voters of the Ceylonese electorate, may be due to a further revision).
Elections were held on December 12 and 13 and the results were counted and released on the December 18 at Colombo - Burgher electorate in the morning and Ceylonese electorate in the afternoon. The elected were appointed by Gazette notification on December 22. The first meeting of the new Legislative Council was held in the afternoon of January 16, 1912.
Elections were held on December 12 and 13 and the results were counted and released on the December 18 at Colombo - Burgher electorate in the morning and Ceylonese electorate in the afternoon. The elected were appointed by Gazette notification on December 22. The first meeting of the new Legislative Council was held in the afternoon of January 16, 1912.
Burgher electorate
There were three nominations for the Burgher electorate and the election was held on December 12 at 25 polling stations island-wide. Hector William van Cuylenburg who took 829 votes emerged victorious defeating H Geo Thomas and Arthur Alvis, who took 466 and 273 respectively. 1568 Burghers, a 72.9% of the total number of the registered voters cast their vote. Hector van Cuylenberg, a proctor and a notary public, was a well known figure of the Burgher community. He served in the Council until his death in 1915.
Contest for Ceylonese electorate
The election was held at 29 polling stations across the country. There were three polling stations in Colombo (which included present Gampaha district), Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Badulla districts and two in Puttalam. All stations in Colombo were located in the Colombo city while in other districts the polling stations were dispersed throughout those districts. This seems to be based on two factors - larger number of voters (1369 voters were registered in Colombo) and travelling difficulties in other districts. According to news reports there was a marked interest among the voters as 2626 out of 2934 registered voters cast their vote. It amounts to 89.5% voting, a highly significant figure when we consider the transport facilities available at the time.
The result was Ponnampalam Ramanathan emerging victorious with 1645 votes while his opponent, Dr. H Marcus Fernando, obtained 981 votes. Someone today may be confused by this result, a Tamil contestant emerging as the winner of the election where most of the voters were Sinhalese by ethnicity. There is a widely accepted fact that caste matters played a big role in this election. Ramanathan (who was of Tamil Vellala caste) was supported by the Sinhalese voters of the parallel Sinhalese caste (Govigama) against his opponent of a different caste (Sinhalese karava caste). Hence this is considered as the election in which caste was involved for the first time in Sri Lankan politics. Both Governor and the Colonial Secretary (Hugh Clifford) of that time have mentioned this fact in their minutes and writings.
However, Ramanathan was a well known character of the day and his campaign was well organised. He travelled to many of the major cities in the country where he was adored by the community. A report says that in Ratnapura he was welcomed in a procession with 43 elephants. His campaign received more attention in media reports of the time.
Whatever the outcome Ramanathan did justice to the responsibility he held as the Ceylonese representative in the Legislative Council. His action in defence of detained Sinhalese leaders of 1915 riots is well documented. This is especially significant when one considers the role of some Sinhalese leaders that kept silent or supported the British on this matter. Ramanathan seems to emerge as a national leader by the next election of the Ceylonese electorate, which was held on January 20, 1917. He was elected with 1704 votes cast in favour of him while his opponent, J. S. Jayawardene received only 48 B. This time, both were from parallel castes in Tamil and Sinhalese societies.
Whatever the outcome Ramanathan did justice to the responsibility he held as the Ceylonese representative in the Legislative Council. His action in defence of detained Sinhalese leaders of 1915 riots is well documented. This is especially significant when one considers the role of some Sinhalese leaders that kept silent or supported the British on this matter. Ramanathan seems to emerge as a national leader by the next election of the Ceylonese electorate, which was held on January 20, 1917. He was elected with 1704 votes cast in favour of him while his opponent, J. S. Jayawardene received only 48 B. This time, both were from parallel castes in Tamil and Sinhalese societies.
As we know, politics in Sri Lanka has changed significantly after this period – both in the ethnic and caste arena.
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