360 candidates for 5 parliamentary seats in Batticaloa

Batticaloa – one of the three electoral districts in the Eastern Province-- has 5 parliamentary seats up for grab.

There are 360 candidates in the fray, vying for the available 5 seats in the electoral district. A total of 17 parties and 28 Independents groups are participating in the electoral district in the parliamentary elections.

In the 2004 Parliamentary elections four from the Tamil National Alliance and one from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress won the elections.

When the nominations were called for the 2004 Parliamentary elections, on behalf of the Tamil National Alliance, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) nominated the candidates. While the nominations were filed, Vinayagamoorthy Muralidaran alias Karuna Amman was the LTTE’s overall commander of Batticaloa and Ampara districts.

But on March 3, 2004 Karuna resigned from the LTTE, but he continued with the election campaign on behalf of the TNA candidates.

Kingsley Rasanayagam was one of the candidates. After winning the elections, he was taken into custody by the LTTE and was persuaded to tender his resignation letter. This he did and was released; subsequently he was killed by the LTTE gunmen.

After his resignation Pakkiyaselvam Ariyanendiran, the Kokkatticholai Sivan Temple "Vannaakkar" (Trustee) and erstwhile editor of the Eastern Tamil newspaper “Thamil Alai” (Tamil wave) was substituted by the LTTE as one of the 4 MPs of the TNA in the Batticaloa district.

In the present parliamentary elections only P. Ariyanendiran, the sitting MP, who was a former nominee of the LTTE is included in the TNA list and he is also the lead candidate of that party. Along with him a former TNA parliamentarian Pon Selvarasa and also C. Yogarasa of the Hindu Youth Organizations are the other two leading TNA contenders.

Former TNA Parliamentarians S. Jayananthamoorthy who is away in the United Kingdom and T. Kanagasabai are not contesting in the elections.

But the other former TNA MP Thangeswari Kathiraman is contesting as a candidate in the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

M.S.S. Ameer Ali who won in the 2004 Parliamentary elections in the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress ticket, later joined the ruling party and is a State Minister in the Government of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In the present election he is the lead candidate of the UPFA. Also M.L.A.M. Hisbullah, a former Minister of the Eastern Province, Ali Zahir Moulana , and S. Gunasekeran, a former Deputy Minister are the most prominent candidates in the Batticaloa district.

The UNF which is the UNP + SLMC combine has put forward Bashir Segu Dawood, a former MP from the SLMC as its lead candidate and also Ariyaratnam Sasikaran of the UNP.

In Batticaloa according to the 2008 electoral register there are 333,644 registered voters with 362 polling stations and 22 counting centres.

But Asian Tribune learnt that there are 250,000 Tamil, 80,000 Muslims and 1360 Sinhalese voters.

Asian Tribune survey reveals that Thangeswari Kathiraman and S. Gunasekeran of the UPFA, Pon Selvarasa , C. Yogarasa of the TNA, and Ariyaratnam Sasikaran of the UNF will be able to win in the forthcoming elections in Batticaloa electoral district.

Furthermore according to Asian Tribune’s survey UPFA will get the bonus seat of this electoral district.

When Asian Tribune contacted T.L. Jawferkhan, the lead candidate of the independent Group No 16, he said that their group has a very good chance of winning one seat in the Batticaloa electorate.

He said he had already initiated action to register a new political party -- United Peoples Democratic Party. As the party was not registered he said that they are contesting as an independent group.

He said that he is the lead candidate of the group and the two Tamil candidates V. Kamaladas and Mrs. Nalini Ratnarajah are the other candidates of his independent group.

It is learnt in case the UNF failed to win a seat Jawferkhan’s independent group would be in a position to win a seat.

It is unlikely that any other political parties and independent groups might win a seat in the district.

- Asian Tribune -