Suresh Premachandran

Arumugam Kandaiah Premachandran (Tamil: ஆறுமுகம் கந்தையா பிரேமச்சந்திரன்; born 8 November 1957; commonly known as Suresh Premachandran) is a Sri Lankan Tamil militant turned politician and former Member of Parliament. He is the current leader of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), a member of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

Hon.
Suresh Premachandran
MP
சுரேஷ் பிரேமச்சந்திரன்
Member of Parliament
for Jaffna District
In office
1989–1994
In office
2004–2015
Personal details
Born (1957-11-08) 8 November 1957
Jaffna, Dominion of Ceylon
NationalitySri Lankan
Political partyEelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front
Other political
affiliations		Tamil National Alliance

Early life

Premachandran was born on 8 November 1957, the son of a farmer.[1][2] He was educated at Uruthirapuram Maha Vidyalayam and Senguntha Hindu College.[2] He then joined Waterloo College, London and Madras Christian College where he studied political science.[2]

Premachandran got involved in the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism movement whilst at school and in 1976, whilst in London, he joined the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS).[2] He received military training from the Palestinians in Lebanon.[2] In 1979 K. Pathmanabha left EROS to form the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and Premachandran joined him.[2][3] He took on the nom de guerre Suresh and was a member of the EPRLF's central committee and politburo.[2] Premachandran took on the leadership of EPRLF following the assassination of Pathmanabha by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on 19 June 1990.

Career

Premachandran was one of the ENDLF/EPRLF/TELO/TULF alliance's candidates in Jaffna District at the 1989 parliamentary election. He was elected and entered Parliament.[4]

On 20 October 2001 the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, EPRLF, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization and Tamil United Liberation Front formed the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).[5][6] He contested the 2001 parliamentary election as one of the TNA's candidates in Jaffna District but failed to get elected.[7]

Premachandran contested the 2004 parliamentary election as one of the TNA's candidates in Jaffna District. He was elected and re-entered Parliament.[8] He was re-elected at the 2010 parliamentary election.[9] He failed to get re-elected at the 2015 parliamentary election after coming seventh amongst the TNA candidates.[10][11][12]

Electoral history
Electoral history of Suresh Premachandran
Election Constituency Party Votes Result
1989 parliamentary[4]Jaffna DistrictEPRLF20,738Elected
2001 parliamentary[7]Jaffna DistrictTNA13,302Not elected
2004 parliamentary[8]Jaffna DistrictTNA45,786Elected
2010 parliamentary[9]Jaffna DistrictTNA16,425Elected
2015 parliamentary[13]Jaffna DistrictTNA29,906Not elected

References
  1. "Directory of Members: Kandaiah Premachandran". Parliament of Sri Lanka.
  2. de Silva, W. P. P.; Ferdinando, T. C. L. 9th Parliament of Sri Lanka (PDF). Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited. p. 266. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2015.
  3. "`Keep the military alternative intact'". Frontline. 21 (21). 9 October 2004.
  4. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1989" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2009.
  5. Jeyaraj, D. B. S. "Tamil National Alliance enters critical third phase - 1". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). Archived from the original on 4 April 2010.
  6. "Tamil parties sign MOU". TamilNet. 20 October 2001.
  7. "How they performed in the Jaffna District" (PDF). Tamil Times. XX (12): 5. 15 December 2001. ISSN 0266-4488.
  8. "General Election 2004 Preferences" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2010.
  9. "Parliamentary General Election - 2010 Jaffna Preferences" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2010.
  10. "TNA secures 16 of 29 SL parliamentary seats in North-Eas". TamilNet. 18 August 2015.
  11. Santiago, Melanie (18 August 2015). "General Election 2015: Several former MPs will not return to parliament". News First.
  12. ""ரி.என்.ஏ", "ஈ.பி.டி.பி", "யு.என்.பி" போன்ற கட்சி முக்கியஸ்தர்களின் யாழ் மாவட்ட விருப்புவாக்கு விபரம்…!!". Athirady News (in Tamil). 19 August 2015.
  13. "Preferential Votes" (PDF). srilankanelections.com.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Suresh Premachandran.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.