Surangani Ellawala

Surangani Ellawala
9th Governor of Central Province
In office 27 January 2015 – 14 March 2016
President	Maithripala Sirisena
Preceded by	Tikiri Kobbekaduwa
Succeeded by	Niluka Ekanayake
Member of Parliament for Ratnapura
In office 2000–2001
Personal details
Born	Surangani Visaka Tennekoon 1939
Died	14 March 2016(2016-03-14) (aged 76–77) Kandy, Sri Lanka
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Spouse	Nanda Ellawala
Children	Visaka, Nalanda

Surangani Visaka Ellawala (1939 – 14 March 2016) was a Sri Lankan politician and Member of Parliament and served as the 9th Governor of the Central Province from 2015 until her death in 2016.^[1] She was the first woman to serve in this position.

She was the wife of Nanda Ellawala, who was a member of parliament for Ratnapura, and the mother of Nalanda Ellawala, who succeeded his father as a member of parliament for Ratnapura in 1994.

In 1999, she contested the 1999 Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council elections as a candidate of the People's Alliance (PA) and was successfully elected, winning with a landslide majority of 54,000 preferential votes, the highest number of preferential votes at the election. She was subsequently appointed Minister of Social Services, Probation, Culture, Housing and Cooperatives.

She then ran for a seat in parliament at the 2000 parliamentary elections from the Ratnapura District as a PA candidate. She received 54,517 votes, the fifth highest and was elected as one of the ten members for the seat.^[2] She failed to win re-election in 2001 and chose not to run in 2004.

She was appointed as the Governor of the Central Province on 27 January 2015.^[3][4] Ellawala died on 14 March 2016 while serving as governor.^[5]

References

1. "Hon. (Mrs.) Ellawala, Surangani, M.P." Directory of Past members. Parliament of Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
2. "General Election 2000 Preferences" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-08-26.
3. "Austin, Ellawala new Governors". Daily Mirror. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
4. "Six new provincial governors sworn in Sri Lanka". Colombo Page. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
5. "Central Province Governor Dies". Digathanews. 14 March 2016. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.

Political offices
Preceded by Tikiri Kobbekaduwa	Governor of Central Province 2015–2016	Succeeded by Niluka Ekanayake