D. Siddarthan

Dharmalingam Siddarthan (Tamil: தர்மலிங்கம் சித்தார்த்தன், romanized: Tarmaliṅkam Cittārttaṉ; born 10 September 1948) is a Sri Lankan Tamil militant turned politician, former provincial councillor and Member of Parliament.^[1] He is the leader of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam, a member of the Tamil National Alliance.^[2][3]

Hon. D. Siddarthan MP
த. சித்தார்த்தன் ධර්මලිංගම් සිද්ධාර්ථන්
Siddarthan in February 2017
Member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka
Incumbent
Assumed office 2015
Constituency	Jaffna District
In office 2001–2004
Constituency	Vanni District
In office 1994–2000
Constituency	Vanni District
Member of the Northern Provincial Council
In office 2013–2015
Succeeded by	Kanapathippillai Tharumalingam
Constituency	Jaffna District
Personal details
Born	Dharmalingam Siddarthan (1948-09-10) 10 September 1948 (age 75)
Political party	People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam
Other political affiliations	Tamil National Alliance

Early life

Siddarthan was born on 10 September 1948.^[1] He is the son of former MP V. Dharmalingam.^[4][5][6] Siddarthan became involved in Tamil nationalist politics in the 1960s but by the 1970s he had become involved in with militant groups.^[7] He was one of the founding members of the Tamil New Tigers and in 1977 founded the London branch of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).^[7][8] In 1980 LTTE chairman Uma Maheswaran split from the LTTE and founded the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE).^[7] Siddarthan joined PLOTE.^[7][9] In 1982 Siddarthan, with the assistance of Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students, went to Syria to receive military training from Palestinian militant groups.^[9] Siddarthan took over leadership of the PLOTE following the assassination of Uma Maheswaran in 1989.^[10]

Career

Siddarthan contested the 1989 parliamentary election as a Democratic People's Liberation Front's (DPLF) (the political wing of PLOTE) candidate in Jaffna District but the DPLF failed to win any seats in Parliament.^[11][12] He contested the 1994 parliamentary election as one of the DPLF's candidates in Vanni District and was elected to Parliament.^[13]

Siddarthan contested the 2000 parliamentary election as a DPLF candidate in Jaffna District but the DPLF failed to win any seats in Parliament.^[14][15][16] He contested the 2001 parliamentary election as one of the DPLF's candidates in Vanni District and was re-elected to Parliament.^[17] He contested the 2004 parliamentary election as a DPLF candidate in Vanni District but the DPLF failed to win any seats in Parliament.^[18][19][20] He contested the 2010 parliamentary election as a DPLF candidate in Vanni District but again the DPLF failed to win any seats in Parliament.^[21][22]

Following the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009 the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora started exerting pressure on Sri Lankan Tamil political parties to unite and so PLOTE joined the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the largest political group representing Sri Lankan Tamils.^[23] Siddarthan contested the 2013 provincial council election as one of the TNA's candidates in Jaffna District and was elected to the Northern Provincial Council.^[24][25] After the election he was appointed to assist the Chief Minister on vocational training, entrepreneurial development, small and medium enterprises.^[26] He took his oath as provincial councillor in front of PLOTE Secretary and All Island Justice Peace Subramanian Sathananthan at Chunnakam on 14 October 2013.^[27][28][29]

Siddarthan contested the 2015 parliamentary election as one of the TNA's candidates in Jaffna District and was re-elected to Parliament.^[30][31] He was re-elected at the 2020 parliamentary election.^[32][33][34]

Electoral history

Electoral history of D. Siddarthan

Election	Constituency	Party		Alliance		Votes	Result
1989 parliamentary^[11]	Jaffna District		PLOTE		DPLF	1,731	Not elected
1994 parliamentary^[13]	Vanni District		PLOTE		DPLF	6,376	Elected
2000 parliamentary	Jaffna District		PLOTE		DPLF		Not elected
2001 parliamentary^[17]	Vanni District		PLOTE		DPLF	4,468	Elected
2004 parliamentary^[18]	Vanni District		PLOTE		DPLF	3,954	Not elected
2010 parliamentary	Vanni District		PLOTE		DPLF		Not elected
2013 provincial^[25]	Jaffna District		PLOTE		TNA	39,715	Elected
2015 parliamentary^[35]	Jaffna District		PLOTE		TNA	53,740	Elected
2020 parliamentary^[36]	Jaffna District		PLOTE		TNA	23,840	Elected

References

1. "Directory of Members: Dharmalingam Sithadthan". Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Sri Lanka: Parliament of Sri Lanka. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
2. Pathirana, Saroj (14 November 2010). "Sri Lanka's 'ignored' non-Tamil Tiger militant groups". BBC News. London, U.K. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
3. . Ceylon Today. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 29 April 2015. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015.
4. Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (5 October 2013). "TNA'S Tussle Over Provincial Ministry Posts in North". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). Colombo, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
5. Sri Kantha, Sachi (24 October 2010). "Remembering Visvanather Dharmalingam". Ilankai Tamil Sangam. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
6. Rajasingham, K. T. (30 March 2002). "Chapter 33: India shows its hand". . Hong Kong: Asia Times. Archived from the original on 7 April 2002.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
7. "Right thinking people hate war - Siddarthan". Sunday Observer. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 18 July 2004. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
8. "Prabhakaran asked cadres to shoot him if he swayed away from his cause". Deccan Herald. Bangalore, India. Press Trust of India. 18 May 2009. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
9. Meadows, Mark Stephen (2010). (PDF). Soft Skull Press. pp. 116–129. ISBN 978-1-59376-275-9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016.
10. Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (11 September 1999). . Frontline. Vol. 16, no. 19. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 20 September 2013.
11. de Silva, W. P. P.; Ferdinando, T. C. L. (PDF). Colombo Sri Lanka: Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited. p. 182. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2015.
12. "Results of Parliamentary General Election – 1989" (PDF). Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka: Election Commission of Sri Lanka. p. 26. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
13. "Results of Parliamentary General Election – 1994" (PDF). Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka: Election Commission of Sri Lanka. p. 51. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
14. Vidanagama, Sena (24 September 2000). . The Island. Colombo, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 10 February 2001.
15. "TULF, PLOTE claim massive election fraud". TamilNet. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 10 October 2000. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
16. "Results of Parliamentary General Election – 2000" (PDF). Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka: Election Commission of Sri Lanka. p. 50. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
17. (PDF). Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka: Department of Elections. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2010.
18. (PDF). Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka: Department of Elections. p. 206. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2010.
19. "Results of Parliamentary General Election – 2004" (PDF). Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka: Election Commission of Sri Lanka. p. 169. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
20. Handunnetti, Dilrukshi (11 April 2004). "The big losers". The Sunday Leader. Colombo, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
21. (PDF). The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Extraordinary. No. 1643/07. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 2 March 2010. p. 227A. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2014.
22. "Results of Parliamentary General Election – 2010" (PDF). Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka: Election Commission of Sri Lanka. p. 200. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
23. Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (18 May 2013). "Tamil National Alliance Faces Acute Political Crisis". The Daily Mirror. Colombo, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
24. "Part I : Section (I) — General - Government Notifications - Provincial Council Elections Act, No. 2 of 1988 - Northern Province Provincial Council" (PDF). The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Extraordinary. No. 1829/33. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 25 September 2013. p. 3A.
25. "Provincial Council Elections 2013 – Results and preferential votes: Northern Province". The Daily Mirror. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 26 September 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
26. "Division of Ministries of the Northern Provincial Council & Subjects for Councillors" (PDF). TamilNet. 11 October 2013. p. 3. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
27. "PLOTE members take oaths". Daily FT. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
28. . Asian Tribune. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 14 October 2013. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013.
29. Bandara, Kelum; Kapilnath, Navaratnam (14 October 2013). "Sivajilingam, Sidharthan sworn in separately". The Daily Mirror. Colombo, Sri Lanka.
30. "Part I : Section (I) — General - Government Notifications - The Parliamentary Elections Act, No. 1 of 1981" (PDF). The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Extraordinary. No. 1928/3. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 19 August 2015. p. 5A. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
31. "Ranil tops with over 500,000 votes in Colombo". The Daily Mirror. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 19 August 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
32. "Part I : Section (I) — General - Government Notifications - Parliamentary Elections Act, No. 1 of 1981" (PDF). The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Extraordinary. No. 2187/26. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 8 August 2020. p. 5A. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
33. "General Election 2020: Preferential votes of Jaffna District". Ceylon Today. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
34. Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (15 August 2020). "Did Sumanthiran Win In Jaffna By "Stealing" Sashikala's Votes?". The Daily Mirror. Colombo, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
35. Jayakody, Pradeep (28 August 2015). "The Comparison of Preferential Votes in 2015 & 2010". The Daily Mirror. Colombo, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
36. "General Election Preferential Votes". Daily News. Colombo Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka. 8 August 2020. p. 2. Retrieved 20 September 2020.