Waduge Warunasiri Mahinda Deshapriya (Sinhala: මහින්ද දේශප්රිය; born 6 June 1955) is a Sri Lankan civil servant who served as the 1st Chairman of Election Commission of Sri Lanka[1] from 2015 to 2020, previously serving as 8th Commissioner of Department of Elections from 2011 to 2015.
On 30 November 2019, he informed the speaker of parliament that he would resign from the post and that his intention had been forwarded to the president Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
[2][3][4] He was born on 6 June 1955, as the fourth child of parents Waduge Piyasena and Wellage Aunty Nona, both residents of Ambalangoda village in the Galle, Sri Lanka.
During the 1970s, Mahinda also contributed generously to his brother Sunanda's work and was instrumental in spreading revolutionary ideas among the students.
[1] After graduation, he started his teaching career as a chemistry and mathematics teacher at Dharmasoka College, which was his alma mater.
[7] During the run-up to the 2015 presidential election, the statement "Shoot the head, not the leg" became extremely popular.