Sampanthan, Selvam, Mavai among TNA elected

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2001, 16:41 GMT]
Mr. R. Sampanthan the chief candidate of the Tamil National Alliance for Trincomalee scored the highest preference votes among the alliance candidates who contested the general election for Sri Lanka’s 12th Parliament. He got 40110 votes out of the 56,119 the TNA garnered in Trincomalee, elections officials said.

Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan scored the second highest preference votes among the TNA leaders by getting about thirty thousand votes in the Vanni. Election officials in Jaffna said that Mr. V. Anandasangaree was leading in the preference votes for TNA candidates in the peninsula. Ex MP Joseph Pararajasingham came second in Batticaloa, beaten by a TELO candidate who is a new comer to Tamil politics.

Mr. T. Thangavadivel of Tamil National Alliance. (Photo:TamilNet)

Mr. T. Thangavadivel (London Muruga), a bachelor who is a retired soil scientist from the village of Araipattai, 8 kilometres south of the eastern town, scored the highest number of preference votes in Batticaloa.

Election officials said that ex-MP for Batticaloa, Mr. Pon Selvarajah was most likely to be elected the third. However, Mr. Selvarajah told Tamilnet “I am keeping my fingers crossed. Nothing is certain”.

In Jaffna, Mr. Mavai Senathirajah, Mr. K. Gajendrakumar (Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam’s son), Mr. Nadarajah Raviraj (ex-Jaffna Mayor) and Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy have also been elected along with Mr. Anandasangaree, officials said. Election officials said that the TELO candidate Mr. N. K Sivajilingam was likely to be elected although he is running neck to neck with the TULF’s Aravindan.

In Vanni, Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan, Raja Kuhaneswran (TELO) and Mr. Sivasakthy Anandan (EPRLF) were elected from the TNA.

In Ampara, Mr. Chandranheru Ariyanayagam, the TNA’s chief candidate has been elected MP.