Piyasena Tennakoon

Hon.
Piyasena Tennakoon
Member of the Ceylon Parliament
for Kandy
In office
1956–1960
Preceded byFredrick de Silva
Succeeded byE. L. Senanayake
Member of the Ceylon Parliament
for Hewaheta
In office
1970–1977
Preceded byM. A. Daniel
Succeeded byM. A. Daniel
Personal details
Born(1917-06-03)3 June 1917
Died25 February 1982(1982-02-25) (aged 64)
NationalityCeylonese
Political partySri Lanka Freedom Party
Professionlawyer, politician

Piyasena Tennakoon (3 June 1917 – 25 February 1982) was a Ceylonese lawyer and politician.[1][2][3]

Tennakoon was educated at Ananda College, Colombo.[4] Following which he graduated from the Ceylon Law College and became an advocate.[4] He was appointed as the District Revenue Officer of Kolonne.[5]

In 1952 he ran at 2nd parliamentary elections, held in May, in the Galaha electorate. He lost to the incumbent, Theodore Braybrooke Panabokke, by 4,606 votes.[6]

Tennakoon next contested the parliamentary by-election for the seat of Kandy, held on 23 October 1954, representing the United National Party. He was unsuccessful losing to the former Mayor of Kandy, Fredrick de Silva, by 399 votes.[7] He ran again at the 3rd parliamentary election, held in April 1956, this time as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party candidate. He polled 11,005 votes (53% of the total vote), 1,239 votes ahead of the United National Party candidate, Edward Lionel Senanayake and was duly elected.[8]

On 20 April 1956, Tennakoon was elected as the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, a position he retained until 16 September 1958, when he was replaced by the member for Gampola, Richard Stanley Pelpola.[9]

He contested the newly created seat of Senkadagala at the 4th parliamentary election held on 19 March 1960, where he lost to Noel Wimalasena, of the United National Party by 1,157 votes.[10] He re-contested the seat at the 6th parliamentary election, for the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, losing again to Wimalasena, this time by 3,370 votes.[11][12]

At the 7th parliamentary election, held on 27 May 1970, he ran for the seat of Hewaheta, as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party candidate. He won the seat by 2,617 votes, defeating the sitting member, Mahahitana Arachchige Daniel, from the United National Party.[13] He was unable to retain the seat at the subsequent 8th parliamentary election, held on 21 July 1977, losing to Daniel by 6,750 votes.[14]

  1. ^ "Hon. Tennakoon, Piyasena, M.P." Parliament of Sri Lanka. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  2. ^ Members of the legislatures of Ceylon, 1931-1972. National State Assembly Library. 1972. p. 159.
  3. ^ Ferguson's Ceylon Directory. Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited. 1964. p. 190.
  4. ^ a b Personalities, Sri Lanka: A Biographical Study (15th-20th Century), 1490-1990 A.D., A-Z. Ceylon Business Appliances Limited. 1994. p. 129. ISBN 9789559287001.
  5. ^ Breckenridge, Shiva N. (2001). The hills of paradise: British enterprise and the story of plantation growth in Sri Lanka. Stamford Lake. p. 207.
  6. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1952" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  7. ^ "Result of Parliamentary By Elections 1952-1977" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
  8. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1956" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
  9. ^ "Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees". Parliament of Sri Lanka. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  10. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960 (March)" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1965" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
  12. ^ Report on the Sixth Parliamentary General Election of Ceylon, 22d March, 1965. Government Press. 1966. p. 41.
  13. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1970" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
  14. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.