Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam

Ponnambalam was born on 16 January 1974.^[1] He is the son of Kumar Ponnambalam and grandson of G. G. Ponnambalam, both leaders of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC).^[3][4] He was educated at Royal College, Colombo and the Colombo International School.^{[3][dead link][5][dead link]} After school he joined SOAS, University of London, graduating with a LL.B. degree in 1995.^[3][5]

Ponnambalam qualified as a barrister-at-law from Lincoln's Inn and was called to the bar of England and Wales in 1997.^[3] Returning to Sri Lanka, he qualified as an attorney-at-law and was called to the bar of Sri Lanka in 1999.^[3]

Ponnambalam entered politics following the assassination of his father on 5 January 2000.^[3] 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 (TNA).^[6][7] Ponnambalam contested the 2001 parliamentary election as one of the TNA's candidates in Jaffna District and was elected to the Parliament.^[8] He was re-elected at the 2004 parliamentary election.^[9] 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).^[10][11]

Ponnambalam contested the 2010 parliamentary election as a TNPF candidate in Jaffna District but the TNPF failed to win any seats in Parliament.^[12][13] In February 2011 Ponnambalam became one of the vice-presidents of the TNPF.^[14] He contested the 2015 parliamentary election as a TNPF candidates in Jaffna District but, again, the TNPF failed to win any seats in Parliament.^[15][16]

Ponnambalam contested the 2020 parliamentary election as a TNPF candidate in Jaffna District and was re-elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka.^[17][18][19]

Ponnambalam has extensive shareholdings in several companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange - 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, factoring and microfinance) and Bukit Darah PLC (palm oil).^[20][21][22]

• List of political families in Sri Lanka