Selvam Adaikalanathan is a Sri Lankan Tamil militant

Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups

Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka in order to create an independent Tamil Eelam in the north of Sri Lanka. They rose in response to the perception amongst minority Sri Lankan Tamils that the state was preferring the majority Sinhalese...

 turned politician and Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

. He is the current leader/president of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization

Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization

The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization is an Eelam Tamil organisation campaigning for the establishment of an independent Tamil Eelam in the northeast of Sri Lanka. The TELO was originally created as a militant group, and functioned as such until 1986, when most of its membership was killed in a...

 (TELO), a member of the Tamil National Alliance

Tamil National Alliance

The Tamil National Alliance is a powerful minority Sri Lankan Tamil political alliance in Sri Lanka. It was formed as an amalgamation of moderate Tamil parties as well as number of former rebel groups...

 (TNA).

Early life

Adaikalanathan was born 10 June 1962. He hails from Mannar

Mannar, Sri Lanka

Mannar , formerly spelled Manar, is the capital of Mannar District, Sri Lanka. It is located on Mannar Island.Mannar is known for its baobab trees and for its fort, built by the Portuguese in 1560 and taken by the Dutch in 1658 and rebuilt; its ramparts and bastions are intact, though the interior...

 in northern Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. At the age of 15 he joined the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization

Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization

The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization is an Eelam Tamil organisation campaigning for the establishment of an independent Tamil Eelam in the northeast of Sri Lanka. The TELO was originally created as a militant group, and functioned as such until 1986, when most of its membership was killed in a...

, a Tamil militant group

Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups

Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka in order to create an independent Tamil Eelam in the north of Sri Lanka. They rose in response to the perception amongst minority Sri Lankan Tamils that the state was preferring the majority Sinhalese...

 fighting for an independent state of Tamil Eelam

Tamil Eelam

Tamil Eelam , is the name given by certain Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora to the independent state which they aspire to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Tamil Eelam has no official status or recognition by any other state or authority...

 in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. He took on the nom de guerre Selvam. Adaikalanathan took on the leadership/presidency of TELO following the murder of Sri Sabaratnam by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a separatist militant organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a violent secessionist and nationalist campaign to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for Tamil...

 on 5 May 1986.

Political career

Adaikalanathan was one TELO's candidates for Vanni District at the 2000 parliamentary election

Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2000

The elections were called by President Chandrika Kumaratunga for October 24, 2000.The People's Alliance government Kumaratunga had led for six years was facing increasing criticism on two fronts: a series of military defeats at the hands of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the...

. He was elected and entered Parliament.

In 2001 the TELO, All Ceylon Tamil Congress

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...

 , Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front

Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front

The Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front is a Sri Lankan political party and a former militant separatist group.-Militant separatists:The EPRLF was formed in 1980 by K...

 and Tamil United Liberation Front

Tamil United Liberation Front

The Tamil United Liberation Front is a political party in Sri Lanka which seeks independence for the Tamil-populated areas of Sri Lanka.-Formation:...

 formed the Tamil National Alliance

Tamil National Alliance

The Tamil National Alliance is a powerful minority Sri Lankan Tamil political alliance in Sri Lanka. It was formed as an amalgamation of moderate Tamil parties as well as number of former rebel groups...

 (TNA). Adaikalanathan was one of the TNA's candidates in Vanni District at the 2001 parliamentary election

Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2001

Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on December 6, 2001, just a little over a year after the last elections in October 2000.-Background:The People's Alliance government faced a blow when most of the SLMC MPs left the coalition...

. He was re-elected. He was re-elected at the 2004

Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2004

Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 2 April 2004. The ruling United National Party of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was defeated, winning only eighty two seats in the 225-member Sri Lankan parliament. The opposition United People's Freedom Alliance won 105 seats...

 and 2010

Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2010

The 2010 Sri Lankan parliamentary election was held on April 8 and April 20, 2010, to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 14th Parliament. 14,088,500 Sri Lankans were eligible to vote in the election at 11,102 polling stations...

parliamentary elections.