Gajendrakumar Gangaser Ponnambalam (; born 16 January 1974) is a Sri Lankan lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. He is the leader of the

All Ceylon Tamil Congress All Ceylon Tamil Congress (), is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka. History The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam asked for a 50-50 representation in parliament (50% for the majority Sinhalese, and 50% for ...

, a member of the Tamil National People's Front.

Early life and family

Ponnambalam was born on 16 January 1974. He is the son of Kumar Ponnambalam and grandson of G. G. Ponnambalam, both leaders of the

(ACTC). He was educated at

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a Single-sex education, boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh (priest), Joseph Mar ...

and the Colombo International School. After school he joined

SOAS, University of London The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public university, public research university in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, ...

, graduating with a LL.B. degree in 1995.

Career

Ponnambalam qualified as a barrister-at-law from

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

of England and Wales in 1997. Returning to Sri Lanka, he qualified as an attorney-at-law and was called to the bar of Sri Lanka in 1999. Ponnambalam entered politics following the assassination of his father on 5 January 2000. On 20 October 2001 the ACTC, Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization and Tamil United Liberation Front formed the

Tamil National Alliance The Tamil National Alliance (TNA; ISO 15919: ''tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu'') was a political alliance in Sri Lanka which represented the Sri Lankan Tamil minority of the country. It was formed in October 2001 by a group of moderate T ...

(TNA). Ponnambalam contested the 2001 parliamentary election as one of the TNA's candidates in

Jaffna District Jaffna District ( ''Yāḻppāṇam Māvaṭṭam''; ''yāpanaya distrikkaya'') 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 ...

and was elected to the

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. In March 2010 Ponnambalam, along with fellow TNA MPs S. Kajendran and Pathmini Sithamparanathan, left the TNA and formed the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF). Ponnambalam contested the 2010 parliamentary election as a TNPF candidate in Jaffna District but the TNPF failed to win any seats in Parliament. In February 2011 Ponnambalam became one of the vice-presidents of the TNPF. He contested the 2015 parliamentary election as a TNPF candidates in Jaffna District but, again, the TNPF failed to win any seats in Parliament. Ponnambalam contested the 2020 parliamentary election as a TNPF candidate in Jaffna District and was re-elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Ponnambalam has extensive shareholdings in several companies listed on the

Colombo Stock Exchange The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) (; ) is the main stock exchange in Sri Lanka that utilizes an electronic trading platform. The CSE headquarters have been located at the World Trade Center (Colombo) Towers in Colombo since 1995, and it has regi ...

- either directly or through family owned companies Gee Gees Properties (Pvt) Ltd and Gitanjali Gajaluckshmi (Pvt) Ltd - including Serendib Land PLC (property developer), LOLC Holdings PLC/Lanka ORIX Leasing Company (

leasing A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

, factoring and

microfinance Microfinance consists of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses (SMEs) who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; saving ...

) and Bukit Darah PLC (

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from o ...

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponnambalam, Gajendrakumar 1974 births All Ceylon Tamil Congress politicians Alumni of Colombo International School Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of SOAS University of London Members of Lincoln's Inn Members of the 12th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 17th Parliament of Sri Lanka Living people Gajendrakumar Sri Lankan Hindus Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan lawyers Tamil politicians Tamil National Alliance politicians

Early life and family

Career

Electoral history

See also

References