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# As Sivajilingam Fights Illness, Political Rivals Question His Sick Leave
- URL: https://www.jaffnamonitor.com/as-sivajilingam-fights-illness-political-rivals-question-his-sick-leave/
- Published: 2026-11-04T06:01:06.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T06:01:06.000Z
- Author: Our Reporter
- Tags: November 2026

**JAFFNA, Sri Lanka:** M.K. Sivajilingam, a veteran Tamil nationalist politician and chairman of the Valvettithurai Urban Council, was admitted to the intensive care unit of Point Pedro Base Hospital on Monday after his condition suddenly worsened.

Mr. Sivajilingam, a former member of Parliament, had a kidney transplant at a private hospital in Colombo on June 11 after both his kidneys were severely damaged. He returned home after several weeks in hospital. When his health declined again, he was admitted on Oct. 24 to the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Jaffna and later moved to a general ward. His current condition has not been made public.

Three days before his latest admission, the council he leads passed an urgent resolution questioning his sick leave.

At the council’s monthly meeting on Oct. 30, members voted to ask the governor of the Northern Province, N. Vedanayagam, to seek an explanation for the chairman’s sick leave and to take action. They also voted to seek advice from the Attorney General. The motion was moved by Mayuran, a lawyer and council member from the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, or ITAK.

The ITAK’s five council members voted for the resolution, along with one member of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party and Anbalagan, a member of the National People’s Power, according to a Facebook post describing the meeting by Rathnam Sathees, a functionary of the Tamil National People’s Front. Three members abstained, the post said.

The post, which reflects the view of Mr. Sivajilingam’s party, accused the three parties of pursuing the chairmanship while he was gravely ill.

The resolution followed an Oct. 14 letter from the Northern Province’s commissioner of local government, S. Sutharsan, replying to a Sept. 30 letter from the council asking for clarification about the chairman’s position. In the letter, which Jaffna Monitor has seen, Mr. Sutharsan cited Section 19(6) of the Urban Councils Ordinance. Under that section, when the chairman is absent because of illness or another unavoidable reason, the vice chairman may exercise the same powers and carry out the same duties. Mr. Sutharsan told the council to act in line with that provision. The letter makes no mention of removing the chairman.

An urban council is the elected local government body for a town in Sri Lanka, and its chairman serves as the town’s leader, similar to a mayor. Each province has a commissioner of local government, an official who supervises these councils. The Northern Provincial Council has had no elected members since its term ended in 2018, so the province’s authority over local councils rests with the governor, who is appointed by the president. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake appointed Mr. Vedanayagam in September 2024.

The three parties behind the resolution compete with one another in national politics. The ITAK, also known as the Federal Party, was founded in 1949 and is one of the oldest Tamil nationalist parties in Sri Lanka. The National People’s Power is Mr. Dissanayake’s governing coalition. The EPDP, led by Douglas Devananda, has worked with successive governments in Colombo.

Mr. Sivajilingam was born in Valvettithurai and has spent decades in Tamil nationalist politics. He was long associated with the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization and ran for president as an independent in 2010 and 2019\. In the local elections of May 2025, the Tamil National People’s Front won seven of the council’s nine wards. He joined the council in October 2025, when the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, the registered party under which the front contests elections, nominated him to fill a vacant seat. Government gazette notices list him as chairman by December 2025.