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Sri Ranga Jeyaratnam

Hon.
Sri Ranga Jeyaratnam
MP
சிறீ ரங்கா ஜெயரத்தினம்
Member of Parliament
for Nuwara Eliya District
In office
2010–2015
Personal details
Born (1971-01-22) 22 January 1971 (age 53)
NationalitySri Lankan
Political partyCitizen's Front
Other political
affiliations		United People's Freedom Alliance
Alma materUniversity of Colombo
OccupationBroadcaster

Sri Ranga Jeyaratnam (Tamil: சிறீ ரங்கா ஜெயரத்தினம்; born 22 January 1971), also known J. Sri Ranga, is a Sri Lankan Tamil broadcaster, politician and former Member of Parliament.

Early life

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Jeyaratnam was born on 22 January 1971.[1] He was educated at Vavuniya Tamil Madhya Maha Vidyalayam and Jaffna Hindu College.[2] He then entered the University of Colombo where he was captain of the football team.[3][4]

Career

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After university Jeyaratnam joined MBC Networks, presenting the Erimalai (volcano) programme on Shakthi FM.[2] He later moved to television, presenting the Minnal (lightning) programme on Shakthi TV.[2][5] This programme was very popular amongst the Up-country Tamils, particularly the youth.[5] He is leader of the Citizen's Front (CF).[5]

Jeyaratnam has close ties with President Mahinda Rajapaksa's family and is a close friend of his son Namal Rajapaksa.[6]

During 2005 and 2006 Jeyaratnam and his family received several threats from unidentified persons.[7][8] In November 2006, after Jeyaratnam's TV programme featured the assassination of Tamil National Alliance MP Nadarajah Raviraj, the police informed Shakthi TV that Jeyaratnam's life was in danger.[9][10] On 3 February 2010 an unidentified group attacked the vehicle he was travelling in near Hatton.[11]

Jeyaratnam contested the 2010 parliamentary election as one of the United National Front's candidates in Nuwara Eliya District and was elected to Parliament.[12][13] Jeyaratnam did not contest the 2015 parliamentary election but was instead placed on the United People's Freedom Alliance's (UPFA) list of National List candidates.[14][15] However, after the election he was not appointed to the National List.[16][17]

Electoral history

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Electoral history of Sri Ranga Jeyaratnam
Election Constituency Party Votes Result
2010 parliamentary[12] Nuwara Eliya District UNF 33,948 Elected

References

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  1. ^ "Directory of Members: Sri Ranga, J." Parliament of Sri Lanka.
  2. ^ a b c "New faces in Parliament" (PDF). The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 18 April 2010.
  3. ^ Mathiaparanam, Kajanka. "Colours Awarding Ceremony 2013". University of Colombo.
  4. ^ "UOC Colours Awards Ceremony At Water's Edge". The Sunday Leader. 12 June 2011.
  5. ^ a b c Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (23 April 2010). "Decline of Tamil representation outside the North and East". dbsjeyaraj.com.
  6. ^ "'Minnal Ranga' tipped to cross over to Rajapaksa alliance". TamilNet. 7 May 2010.
  7. ^ "MTV journalist threatened". Daily News (Sri Lanka). 19 November 2005.
  8. ^ Samarasinghe, Sonali (8 January 2006). "Maharaja assassination plot thickens". The Sunday Leader.
  9. ^ "IFJ condemns death threats against a Shakthi TV journalist". TamilNet. 21 November 2006.
  10. ^ "Threat to Sri Ranga's life". The Island (Sri Lanka). 17 November 2006.
  11. ^ "Tamil TV journalist attacked in Nuwara Eliya". TamilNet. 4 February 2010.
  12. ^ a b "Parliamentary General Election - 2010 Nuwara Eliya Preferences" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2010.
  13. ^ "General Elections 2010 - Preferential Votes" (PDF). The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 11 April 2010.
  14. ^ "PART I : SECTION (I) — GENERAL Government Notifications PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS ACT, No. 1 OF 1981 List of Persons submitted under Article 99A of the Constitution" (PDF). The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Extraordinary. 1923/02. 13 July 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015.
  15. ^ "UPFA, UNP national lists announced". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). 13 July 2015.
  16. ^ "PART I : SECTION (I) — GENERAL Government Notifications PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION — 2015 Declaration under Article 99A of the Constitution" (PDF). The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Extraordinary. 1928/25. 21 August 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015.
  17. ^ "UPFA finalises National list". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). 21 August 2015.