Anu Sriskandarajah and Ravicha Ravindran Elected to Toronto District School Board!

Two Tamil women, Anu Sriskandarajah and Ravicha Ravindran, have been elected to the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) in the municipal and school board elections held across Ontario, Canada, on October 26, 2026.

Their victories follow the election of three Tamil candidates to municipal councils, marking another significant moment for Tamil participation in Canadian civic and community life.

Anu Sriskandarajah won the TDSB race in Ward 12 with 13,049 votes, representing 27.5 per cent of the valid votes cast. Safia Ansari, the next-highest candidate, received 7,651 votes, giving Sriskandarajah a winning margin of 5,398 votes.

First elected to the Toronto District School Board in 2018 and re-elected in 2022, Sriskandarajah has now secured a third term.

An associate professor at York University, she conducts research in areas including children’s and young people’s rights, education and social justice. She has also served as vice-chair of the school board’s Policy and Governance Committee.

Her husband, Parthi Kandavel, has also been re-elected as Toronto city councillor for Ward 20, Scarborough Southwest.

In the 2018 school board election, Kandavel and Sriskandarajah were both elected as TDSB trustees. They were recognized at the time as the first married couple elected to the Toronto school board in the same election.

They have now both been elected again, with Kandavel serving on Toronto City Council and Sriskandarajah on the Toronto District School Board.

Meanwhile, another Tamil woman, Ravicha Ravindran, won the TDSB trustee election in Ward 11 with 11,770 votes, or 27.4 per cent of the vote.

Curtis Jack, the runner-up, received 10,101 votes. Ravindran therefore won by 1,669 votes.

Ravindran has been active in financial services, youth development and community initiatives, contributing to educational mentoring, financial literacy, career guidance and practical life-skills development for students and young people.

In 2025, she was recognized in the ‘30 Under 30’ initiative by the Tamil Canadian Centre for Civic Action.

During her election campaign, she identified practical life skills for students, stronger mental-health supports, improved connections between parents and the school board, and greater transparency in educational governance as priorities.

The two candidates secured their respective seats amid changes to the 2026 Toronto District School Board elections that reduced the number of trustee wards from 22 to 12.

Their victories reflect the continuing presence of Tamil representatives in Canadian municipal and educational institutions, and the participation of Tamil women in public administration and community leadership.

As of October 27, 2026, the election results released by the City of Toronto remain unofficial. They will become official once certified by the relevant election authorities.