2nd Lead (Adds photos)

Ten groups compete in elections for Vanni district

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 February 2004, 10:26 GMT]
Vavuniya Government Agent (GA) and Vavuniya election officer, K.Ganesh, accepted nominations papers from three independent groups and seven different political parties for the Vanni electoral district comprising Vavuniya, Mannar and Mullaitivu districts, sources in Vavuniya said.

Nine Tamils, all from Vavuniya, Mannar districts, are competing under New Left Front (NLF) ticket. The contestants are:

• Antonipillai Jesunesan
• Bakeer Mohamed Mujiboor Rahman
• Jeyarajah Selvarajah
• Gabrielpillai Cyril
• Chinniah Edward Jeganathan
• M. Ananadappah
• Kadatkaran Ganeswaran Mutthu
• Chithambaram Nadesan
• Sivasubramaniam Raveendran

Nine contestants are standing for elections under the United Peoples Freedom Alliance(UPFA), the alliance between the SLFP and JVP. Seven contestants are from SLFP, one is from JVP and the other contestant is from Ferial Ashraf wing. Six of the nine are Muslims and three are Sinhalese.

• Premaratne Sumathipala
• R.H.Upali Samarasinghe
• Divahara Piyadasage Vimalnath
• Punchiralage Somaratne
• Abdulkader Mohamed Noon
• Mohamed Abdulkareem Razik
• Meera Sahig Raneez
• Mohamed Sithique Mahamed Kaleel
• Abdul Hameed Sanoos

The Nine contestants, 2 Sinhalese, 3 Tamils and 4 Muslims, standing for elections under the United National Front (UNF) ticket are:

• Noordeen Mazoor
• Abdul Badurdeen Abdul Rizard
• Shathakumara Punchihewa
• Mahadurage Jayantha Pathmalal
• Maheswaran Thavachelvam
• Rangaswamy Pakiyanathan
• Rajasundaram Lloyd Jeyaseelan
• Abdul Hameed Mohamed
• Abdul Kader Zahul Hameed

Peoples Liberation Organization of TamilEelam (PLOTE) is fielding nine candidates including a Muslim.

• Dharmalingam Siddarthan
• Kanagaratnam Chandrakulasingam
• Abdul Rahman Mohamed
• Sinnathamby Ganeshalingam
• Saravanapavananthan Jeganathan
• Ignatius Cycil Johnson
• Kandiah Sivanesan
• Thuraisamy Sunthararaj
• Veerapan Thirupathy

Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan leads the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate list which includes a Muslim.

• Selvam Adaikalanathan
• Sivasakthi Anandan
• Sivanathan Kishor
• Appadurai Vinayagamoorthy
• Jon Bennet Christopher
• Samiyoor Noor Mohamed Shajani
• S.Kanagaretnam
• Augustine Joseph Mariyanayagam Soosai, and
• Vino Noharathalingam.

Nine Buddhist monks, led by Rev. Padaviya Sumanasiri Thera, are competing under the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) ticket.

Two independent groups, one led by Habeeb Mohamed Sameem and the other led by Siththikul Akbar Mohamed Sadiq also submitted their nomination papers Monday.

EPDP and EPRLF (Varathar faction) have not submitted their papers yet in Vavuniya, according to election officials.

PA, JVP candidates: Former MP for Vanni and Junior Minister Premaratne Sumathipala at the center, D.P.Wimalanath (with blue shirt), and R.H.Upali Samarasinghe of the JVP are seen after handing over the nominations.

United National Front candidates: Leading candidate former Vanni MP and Junior Minister Noordeen Mashoor with the tie, former MP for Vanni Badhurdeen Abdul Rizath from SLMC, UNP candidates Shantha Punchihewa (next to Mashoor), Renganathan Packiyanathan and Maheswaran Thavachelvam are seen in the picture.

TNA candidates:A.N.M.Abdul Sajani (with the hat), N.Sivasakthi Ananthan, Adaikalanathan Selvam, Sivanathan Kishore and Appapilliai Vinayagamoorthy

PLOTE: PLOTE leader Tharmalingam Sidharthan the leading candidate and another candidate K.Santhirakulasingam are having a close look at the Nomination lists handed over ahead of them at the Kachcherie after handing over thier nominations.

Tharmalingam Sitharthan leader of PLOTE is seen speaking to the press after nominations were handed over.

Jathika Hela Urumaya an extremist southern political party submitted its nominations in Vavuniya today. Its leading candidate for Vanni electoral district Ven.Padaviya Sumanasiri Himi is seen with his assistant just before the nomination was handed over.