Shelton Ranaraja

Shelton Ranaraja (; 3 November 1926 – 11 August 2011) was a Sri Lankan lawyer, politician and deputy minister.

Early life and family Ranaraja was born on 3 November 1926 in Ranwala near Kegalle in central Ceylon. He was the son of landowner and politician P. B. Ranaraja.

Ranarajara was educated at Trinity College, Kandy and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. He was a keen sportsman, obtaining colours in athletics, boxing, cricket and swimming. They had five daughters - Premila, Aruni, Siromi, Shamila and Anjali. Ranaraja practising law in Kandy. In December 1964 the SLFP government tried to nationalise Lake House, Ceylon's largest newspaper group which was seen as a supporter of the opposition UNP. Following the election he was appointed Deputy Minister of Justice in the new UNP government.

In 1980, when the UNP government passed a law depriving SLFP leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike of her civic rights, Ranaraja opposed the move in cabinet and was not present when the law was debated in Parliament. The SLFP and Communist Party also tried to object to the motion but were over-ruled by the Speaker on technicalities. Ranaraja's principled action was met by abuse from his fellow MPs who labelled him "Shelton Nadaraja" (Nadaraja is a Tamil name). When Parliament was eventually dissolved in December 1988 the UNP leadership requested that all incumbent UNP MPs apply to be candidates in the forthcoming parliamentary election. He died on 11 August 2011 in Kandy due to cancer.

Electoral history + Electoral history of Shelton RanarajaElectionConstituencyPartyVotesResult 1960 July parliamentary Senkadagala SLFP Elected 1977 parliamentary Senkadagala UNP Elected