Akilan Manoharan Ganesan (born 17 December 1959) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n trade unionist, politician and government minister. He is the leader of the

Democratic People's Front The Western People's Front, currently named the Democratic People's Front (; ''Prajathanthravadi Janatha Peramunay''), is a political party in Sri Lanka active in the Western Province. WPF was originally a trade union, which then became a pol ...

(DPF) and

Tamil Progressive Alliance The Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPF; ''Tamiḻ Muṟpōkku Kūṭṭaṇi'') is a Sri Lankan political alliance. It was formed in 2015 by the Democratic People's Front (DPF), National Union of Workers (NUW) and the Up-Country People's Front (UCP ...

(TPA), both constituent parties of the

Samagi Jana Balawegaya The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB; , , ) is a centrist political alliance led by Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa. It is the largest opposition coalition in the Parliament of Sri Lanka since 2020. The alliance was formed with the approva ...

Early life

Ganesan was born on 17 December 1959. He is a son of V. P. Ganesan, trade unionist and film producer, and brother of

Praba Ganesan Adawan Amal Praba Ganesan (; born 4 January 1964) is a Sri Lankan politician and former member of parliament. He is the current leader of the Democratic People's Congress (DPC), a member of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA). Early life ...

, former Member of Parliament.

Career

Ganesan is president of the Democratic Workers Congress trade union. He contested the 1999 provincial council election as one of the Indian Origin People's Front's candidates in

Colombo District Colombo District ( ''kol̠am̆ba distrikkaya''; ''Koḻumpu Māvaṭṭam'') is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a D ...

and was elected to the

Western Provincial Council The Western Province ( ''Basnāhira Paḷāta''; ''Mael Mākāṇam'') is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of the country. The provinces have existed since the 19th century but did not have any l ...

. Ganesan founded the

Western People's Front The Western People's Front, currently named the Democratic People's Front (; ''Prajathanthravadi Janatha Peramunay''), is a political party in Sri Lanka active in the Western Province. WPF was originally a trade union, which then became a pol ...

in 2000 to represent

Tamils The Tamils ( ), also known by their endonym Tamilar, are a Dravidian peoples, Dravidian ethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is o ...

living in the greater Colombo region. He contested the 2001 parliamentary election as one of the United National Front's (UNF) candidates in Colombo District. He was elected and entered

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. He was re-elected at the 2004 parliamentary election. Ganesan contested the 2010 parliamentary election as one of the UNF's candidates in

Kandy District Kandy District (, ) is a district of the Central Province of Sri Lanka. Its area is 1,940 km2 (750 sq mi). Administrative divisions Ethnic groups and religion Major cities Suburbs of city of Kandy * Peradeniya * Katugasto ...

but failed to get re-elected after coming seventh amongst the UNF candidates. He contested the 2011 local government election as a

(DPF) candidate and was elected to

Colombo Municipal Council The Colombo Municipal Council is the municipal governing body of Colombo, the largest city and financial centre in Sri Lanka. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of Colombo, and elected 119 municipal councilors. The council was f ...

. He contested the 2014 provincial election as a DPF candidate and was re-elected to the Western Provincial Council. Ganesan was one of the

United National Front for Good Governance The United National Front (UNF) (), later the United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) ( ''Eksath Yahapalana Jathika Peramuna''; ), was a political alliance in Sri Lanka led by the United National Party. The UNF was the governing party ...

's candidates in Colombo District at the 2015 parliamentary election. He was elected and re-entered Parliament. He was sworn in as Minister of National Dialogue on 4 September 2015. Ganesan is founder and convener of the Civil Monitoring Commission on Extra-Judicial Killings and Disappearance. He was the first runner-up in the 2007 Freedom Defender's Award. He was appointed as a Member of Parliament for

National List The National List (, ''Reshima Mamlakhtit''), sometimes translated as the State List, was a political party in Israel. Despite being founded by David Ben-Gurion, one of the fathers of the Israeli left, the party is one of the ancestors of the mo ...

2024 Sri Lankan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 14 November 2024 to elect 225 Member of Parliament (Sri Lanka), members to the new parliament. The 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka was dissolved on 24 September 2024. The submission of nominations ...

as a member of the

Electoral history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ganesan, Mano 1959 births Cabinet ministers of Sri Lanka Colombo municipal councillors Democratic People's Front politicians Indian Tamil trade unionists of Sri Lanka Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka Living people Members of the 12th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the Western Provincial Council Minority rights activists Samagi Jana Balawegaya politicians Sri Lankan Hindus Sri Lankan people of Indian Tamil descent Tamil politicians

Early life

Career

Electoral history

See also

References

External links