Hiranya Deepthi Dulanjani Menike Herath Ranaweera commonly known as Hiranya Herath ( Sinhala: හිරණ්‍යා හේරත්,

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

: ஹிரன்யா ஹேரத்; Born ) is an Attorney at Law and a politician in the district of

Nuwara Eliya Nuwara Eliya ( si, නුවර එළිය ; ta, நுவரெலியா) is a city in the hill country of the Central Province, Sri Lanka. Its name means "city on the plain (table land)" or "city of light". The city is the administrativ ...

, Sri Lanka. She is the only child of the late Renuka Herath a prominent politician and former Health Minister of Sri Lanka. Hiranya Herath was appointed as the UNP organizer of the Walapane electorate in November 2017. Since 2018 she is the opposition leader of the Walapane Pradeshiya Sabha.

Education

She completed her secondary education at Ladies College Colombo. Then went on to complete a BA in International Relations at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

and an LLB from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. She is at present an attorney at law.

Career

In her 2 years as Walapane organizer for the UNP, she successfully championed the allocation of funds and completion of over 191 rural roads, over 50 places of worship including Buddhist temples, Hindu Kovils, and Mosques. There have also been multiple drinking water projects, grants for over 200 sanitation facilities for low-income households. In the 2019 presidential election, Hiranya lead the campaign for the current leader of the Opposition Hon. Sajith Premadasa in the Walapane electorate ( a Sinhala Buddhist majority electorate). Hon. Sajith Premadasa went on to win the electorate for New Democratic Front against the SLPP. She oversaw an increase of votes (to 33,900) from the 23,500 votes gained by the UNP in the 2018 local government elections. She was one of the first community leaders to respond at the landslide in Walapane (on 1 December 2019) leading the recovery effort and supporting the affected people. Hiranya Herath was one of the first members of the UNP to publicly support an alliance led by Hon. Sajith Premadasa at the 2020 general elections following a UNP Central Committee decision to contest the election through an alliance. She contested in the

2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 5 August 2020 to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 16th Parliament. 16,263,885 people were eligible to vote in the election, 31.95% of whom were young voters. The incumbent Sri Lanka People's ...

from the

electoral district representing Samagi Jana Balawegaya and received 4th place. Days before the parliamentary election the working committee of the

United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...

(UNP) suspended the memberships of 115 UNP members including that of Hiranya Herath. She has since filed a lawsuit against the working committee decision.

References

United National Party politicians 20th-century Sri Lankan women politicians 21st-century Sri Lankan women politicians Women legislators in Sri Lanka 1986 births Monash University alumni Alumni of the University of London Living people {{CentralLK-politician-stub