 In 1938 he was appointed chairman of the Urban Council, a position he retained for fourteen years.In 1952 he contested the second parliamentary elections for the UNP in the Kalutara electorate successfully defeating the sitting member, Cholomondeley Goonewardene, from the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, by 332 votes (a margin of just under 1% of the total vote).In 1965 he sought re-election at the 3rd parliamentary elections but finished third, losing to Goonewardene by 4,108 votes.