House of Representatives (Ceylon)

House of Representatives
Dominion of Ceylon
Type
Type
History
Established 1947
Disbanded 1972
Preceded by State Council of Ceylon
Succeeded by National State Assembly
Seats 101 (1947-1960)
157 (1960-1972)
Elections
Last election
 Ceylonese parliamentary election, 1970
Meeting place
The State Council building in Galle Face Green, Colombo. The building was used by the State Council's successors (the House of Representatives, National State Assembly, and Parliament of Sri Lanka) until 1982. Today it is known as the Old Parliament Building and houses the Presidential Secretariat.
Sri Lanka
Coat of arms of Sri Lanka, showing a lion holding a sword in its right forepaw surrounded by a ring made from blue lotus petals which is placed on top of a grain vase sprouting rice grains to encircle it. A Dharmacakra is on the top while a sun and moon are at the bottom on each side of the vase.
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The House of Representatives was the lower chamber of the parliament of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Constitution. The House was housed in the old State Council building in Galle Face Green, Colombo and met for the first time on 14 October 1947. The First Republican Constitution of Sri Lanka, adopted on 22 May 1972, replaced the House of Representatives (and Parliament of Ceylon) with the unicameral National State Assembly.

Membership

The House of Representatives initially consisted of 101 members, of whom 95 were elected by the electors of the 89 electoral districts and six appointed by the Governor-General. The members were known as "Members of Parliament". The six appointed members represented important interests which were not represented or inadequately represented in the House.

The fourth amendment to the Soulbury Constitution increased the number of members to 157 (151 elected from 145 electoral districts and six appointed).

Electoral districts

The initial 89 electoral districts consisted of 84 single-member districts, four two-member districts (Ambalangoda-Balapitiya, Badulla, Balangoda and Kadugannawa) and one three-member district (Colombo Central). From March 1960 there were 145 electoral districts consisting of 140 single-member districts, four two-member districts (Akurana, Batticaloa, Colombo South and Mutur) and one three-member district (Colombo Central).

Speakers

Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees

See also

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Speakers". Handbook of Parliament. Parliament of Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 2009-07-25.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees". Handbook of Parliament. Parliament of Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 2010-11-26.
Bibliography
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