He was a Member of Parliament from the Batticaloa District from 2004 to 2015, representing the Tamil National Alliance.
[4] It has been alleged that the LTTE abducted and forced Rasanayagam to resign to make way for Ariyanethiran.
[7] In 2024, Ariyanethiran was nominated by a number of Tamil political parties as their common candidate of the 2024 presidential elections.
The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi notably did not endorse Ariyanethiran.
[8] Although Ariyanethiran only won 1.7% of the national vote, his performance was considerably stronger in the Tamil-majority districts of the North and East.