Seven candidates will contest the election for the post of Diyawadana Nilame of the Sri Dalada Maligawa, scheduled to be held next Friday at the Senkadagala Buddhist Mandir.
The elected candidate will serve a 10-year term.
The contenders are former Diyawadana Nilame Pradeep Nilanga Dela, Basnayake Nilame of Kataragama Devalaya Daminda Bandara Udurawana, Basnayake Nilame of Natha Devalaya A.W.S. Bandaranaike, Gamini Kaluhandiwela, Nanda Madugalle, Professor Thilak Subasinghe, and Roshan Priyadarshana.
Professor Subasinghe serves at the Faculty of Management, University of Peradeniya, while Kaluhandiwela is a science graduate from the same university. Priyadarshana, a former Police Department officer, is currently a businessman, and Madugalle is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Sri Lanka Army.
A total of 261 eligible voters—including 157 chief priests and lay trustees of Rajamaha Viharas under the Malwatta and Asgiriya Chapters, as well as 29 Basnayake Nilames—will cast their votes.
Former Diyawadana Nilame Pradeep Nilanga Dela expressed confidence in his victory, citing his record of service. Dela, who was first elected in 2005 at the age of 31, was re-elected in 2015 with 199 votes.
He noted that the monthly income of the Temple of the Tooth had increased from Rs. 80 million in 2005 to Rs. 1 billion during his tenure, attributing the growth to proper and transparent management.
Among the new contenders, Daminda Bandara Udurawana stands out as a descendant of H.B. Udurawana, who served as Diyawadana Nilame from 1964 to 1975.
An old boy of Trinity College, Kandy, Udurawana was first elected Basnayake Nilame of the Pasgama Natha Devalaya in 2017, re-elected unopposed in 2022, and later appointed as Basnayake Nilame of the Kataragama Devalaya in 2023.
