P. Ariyanethiran

Hon. P. Ariyanethiran
பா. அரியநேத்திரன்
Member of Parliament for Batticaloa District
In office 2004–2015
Preceded by	Kingsley Rasanayagam
Personal details
Born	(1955-02-01) 1 February 1955 (age 69)
Political party	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi
Other political affiliations	Tamil National Alliance

Pakkiyaselvam Ariyanethiran (Tamil: பாக்கியசெல்வம் அரியநேத்திரன்; born 1 February 1955)^[1] is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician. He was a Member of Parliament from the Batticaloa District from 2004 to 2015, representing the Tamil National Alliance.

Political career

Ariyanethiran was trustee of Kokkatticholai Sivan Temple and editor of Thamil Alai (Tamil Wave), a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam newspaper.^[2] He was selected by the LTTE as one of the Tamil National Alliance's (TNA) candidates in the Batticaloa District at the 2004 parliamentary election but failed to get elected after placing fifth amongst the TNA candidates.^[3] However, Ariyanethiran entered Parliament in May 2004 following the resignation of Kingsley Rasanayagam.^[4] It has been alleged that the LTTE abducted and forced Rasanayagam to resign to make way for Ariyanethiran.^[5]

Ariyanethiran was re-elected at the 2010 parliamentary election.^[6] He failed to get re-elected at the 2015 parliamentary election.^[7]

In 2024, Ariyanethiran was nominated by a number of Tamil political parties as their common candidate of the 2024 presidential elections. The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi notably did not endorse Ariyanethiran.^[8] Although Ariyanethiran only won 1.7% of the national vote, his performance was considerably stronger in the Tamil-majority districts of the North and East. In the Jaffna district, Ariyanethiran became the 2nd most-voted candidate, beating the likes of president Ranil Wickremesinghe and NPP candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake. In Vanni, he was the 3rd most-voted.^[9][10]

Electoral history

Electoral history of P. Ariyanethiran

Election	Constituency	Party		Votes	Result
2004 parliamentary[3]	Batticaloa District		TNA	35,377	Not elected
2010 parliamentary[6]	Batticaloa District		TNA	16,504	Elected
2015 parliamentary	Batticaloa District		TNA		Not elected
2024 presidential	Sri Lanka		Ind	226,343	Lost

References

1. "Directory of Members: P. Ariyanethiran". Parliament of Sri Lanka.
2. Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (24 October 2004). "The killing of Kingsley Rasanayagam". The Sunday Leader. Archived from the original on 28 November 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
3. "General Election 2004 Preferences" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2010.
4. "Parliament meets Tuesday, one SLMC MP crosses over to govt. bench". TamilNet. 18 May 2004.
5. Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (3 April 2010). "TAMIL NATIONAL ALLIANCE ENTERS CRITICAL THIRD PHASE -2". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
6. "Parliamentary General Election - 2010 Batticaloa Preferences" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2010.
7. Santiago, Melanie (18 August 2015). "General Election 2015: Several former MPs will not return to parliament". News First.
8. Walpola, Thilina (9 August 2024). "Some Tamil parties field common candidate". Retrieved 10 August 2024.
9. Federal, The (23 September 2024). "Sri Lanka polls | Most Tamil votes go to Premadasa, not to 'common Tamil candidate'". thefederal.com. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
10. "Presidential Election 2024". Newswire. 22 September 2024. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 24 September 2024.