The Upcountry People’s Front (UPF) has asked for 16 parliamentary seats for Tamils of Indian origin under the proposed electoral reforms along with ten constituencies re-demarcated to strengthen the community’s representation.
The UPF, a party of the governing coalition, discussed its proposals with other political parties representing the upcountry Tamils at the Indian community council meeting held on Monday. Currently, there are 11 members representing Tamils of Indian origin in Parliament.
UPF central committee member S. Vijesandiran told the Daily Mirror yesterday they basically demanded 16 seats in parliament and ten of them should be elected from the proposed constituencies in the districts largely inhabited by upcountry Tamils.
“We will support a combination of the first-past-the post system and the present proportional representation system only on these conditions,” he said.
In addition, the UPF has also proposed 18 and 12 constituencies for Sri Lankan Tamils and Muslims respectively out of the total 40 minority constituencies.
The proposed constituencies for estate Tamils in the Nuwara-Eliya district are Maskeliya, Hatton, Talawakele and Nuwara-Eliya and in the Badulla district, Passara and Dambatenne-Poonagala.
The party has also proposed the demarcation of Kotahena and Wellawatte as separate constituencies for Tamils of Indian origin in the Colombo district.
The Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) agreed in principle with the UPF demand of 16 seats in Parliament for estate Tamils.
CWC spokesman R. Yogarajan said the party decided at the meeting to join hands in fighting for its electoral rights in the future.
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