Former MP and ITAK Leader Mavai Senathirajah Passes Away

COLOMBO (News 1st); Former MP and leader of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK), Mavai Senathirajah, has passed away at the age of 83.

He passed away yesterday (29) while receiving treatment at the Jaffna Hospital.

The veteran Tamil politician was admitted to the Emergency Treatment Unit (ETU) of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital due to an accident that occurred at his home. 

Senathirajah was a veteran Tamil politician who played a key role in the country’s political landscape, advocating for Tamil rights.

Born on the 27th of October 1942 in Mawattapuram, Jaffna, Mavai Senathirajah received his primary education from Nadeswara College in Jaffna. 

He completed his higher education at the University of Peradeniya.


A former MP, Senathirajah was the leader of the ITAK from 2014 to 2024, the main constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

He joined the youth wing of ITAK, the Tamil Youth League, in 1962 and became Secretary of the Tamil Youth Front, the youth wing of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), in 1972.

He entered Parliament in 1989 when he was appointed as a National List Member of Parliament for the TULF, and re-entered Parliament in 1999 as a National List Member of Parliament for the TULF. 


Senathirajah contested the 2001 Parliamentary Election as one of the TNA’s candidates in the Jaffna district. He was elected and re-entered Parliament, and was also re-elected at the 2004, 2010, and 2015 Parliamentary Elections.

Senathirajah was General-Secretary of ITAK before being elected Leader of ITAK in September 2014.

He stepped down from ITAK leadership in January 2024, due to poor health conditions.