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Mallika Ratwatte

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Mallika Ellawala Ratwatte
Member of Parliament
for Balangoda electorate
In office
1966–1977
Personal details
Born(1932-04-12)12 April 1932
Died18 May 2017(2017-05-18) (aged 85)
NationalitySri Lankan
Political partySri Lanka Freedom Party
SpouseClifford Ratwatte
OccupationPolitics

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

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Born Mallika Eslin Ellawala, to the Radala Ellawala family in Ratnapura. She married Clifford Ratwatte, a planter who was the son of Barnes Ratwatte Dissawa, a member of the State Council of Ceylon and sister of Sirimavo Bandaranaike who would become Prime Minister of Ceylon.

Political career

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Clifford Ratwatte entered politics in 1954 as member of Sri Lanka Freedom Party which was formed by his brother-in-law S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike; he was elected to parliament from the Balangoda electorate in March 1960 and was re-elected in July 1960 and 1965, but was unseated in 1966 in an election petition.[1]

Mallika Ratwatte, then contested in her husband's seat of Balangoda in the by-election in 1966 from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and won, entering parliament. She again contested in the Balangoda electorate and won in the 1970 parliamentary elections, defeating a distant cousin Seetha Seneviratne, 18,808 votes to 11,616 votes.[2] She was defeated in the 1977 parliamentary elections by the United National Party candidate M.L.M. Aboosally by 19,502 votes to 15,829 votes.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Time for political googlies". Sunday Times. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1970" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  3. ^ "Parliamentary Election - 1977" (PDF). elections.gov.lk. Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 9 August 2019.