Dharmadasa, Ranatunga to contest Sumathipala in SLC elections

By Madushka Balasuriya

Jayantha Dharmadasa, Nishantha Ranatunga and Mohan De Silva will be running against incumbent Thilanga Sumathipala for the role of President of Sri Lanka Cricket, an SLC election committee has confirmed.

Ranatunga was a key part of the SLC administration from 2012 to 2015 in his role as Secretary before being ousted by the sports ministry following allegations of financial irregularities and corruption.

Dharmadasa was also a part of the administration in his role as President, but more recently was a part of long-time rival Thilanga Sumathipala’s team, where he served as Vice President. Having initially been in charge of International Cricket affairs at SLC, Dharmadasa resigned from his post late last year after being sidelined in his role.

Mohan De Silva’s nomination, meanwhile, was put in as a fail-safe in the event that Sumathipala was disqualified from running for President so as to effectively keep Sumathipala’s team in power. De Silva is presently Vice President of SLC under Sumathipala, and is in charge of Domestic Cricket affairs.

De Silva has also been nominated to retain his role of Vice President, alongside fellow Vice President K. Mathivanan, Treasurer Shammi Silva, and Hirantha Perera. De Silva, Silva and Perera have also been nominated for the role of Secretary alongside Ranatunga and Bandula Dissanayake.

Dissanayake is also in the running for the post of Assistant Secretary alongside Samantha Dodanwela, and Ravin Wickramaratne, while Dissanayake, Silva and Eastman Narangoda are up for the post of Treasurer.

SLC elections will be held on 31 May at SLC’s Annual General Meeting.