The National Tawheed Jamath is suspected of plotting the deadly Easter blasts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Rajapaksa and said he looks forward to further deepen relations between the two nations.
Authorities also released photographs of six suspects, including three women, wanted for their involvement in the attacks and sought information regarding them from the public.
Polls opened at 7 am local time and would close at 5 pm with some 12,845 polling stations being set up throughout the country for 15.9 million voters, who will choose a successor to President Maithripala Sirisina.
The Indian authorities have to reconfirm that Prabhakaran is dead. It may require seeking assistance from Interpol and also involve the re-opening of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and more so, the investigations, formally or otherwise, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Delhi finds itself between the rock and hard place in the coming Sri Lankan election, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Sri Lankan company that made the personalised stationery for the US president from paper made of elephant dung is asking people to use its products to help the country's dwindling elephant population.
World leaders are reacting with caution to Donald Trump's jaw-dropping victory in the US presidential election, with some of them reminding him of the democratic values and the global responsibility he carries.
Sri Lanka's newly elected president Mithripala Sirisena waves at media as he leaves the election commission in Colombo. Photograph: Dinuka Liyanawatte/ Reuters
'Gotabaya will expect India to observe the red line.' 'He even dispensed with any gesture welcoming India as an interlocutor on the Tamil issue.' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'What happened last Sunday is a great tragedy, an insult to humanity'
Several people succumbed to their injuries sustained in the blasts, taking the death toll to 359.
England, who have won both the one-day and Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka, play a two-day practice match in Colombo before heading to Galle which hosts the first of the three Test matches from November 6.
-- Seven suicide bombers believed to be members of an Islamist extremist group carried out the series of explosions. -- Police have so far arrested 24 people - mostly members of an Islamist extremist group - in connection with the blasts
'We should expect a cold-blooded, transactional relation that requires a lot of engagement and mutual trust to sustain,' says Constantino Xavier, Fellow, foreign policy, Brookings India.
India strongly believes that its economic growth must bring benefits to its neighbours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today as a stadium in Jaffna renovated by India was jointly inaugurated by him along with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.
'We have nothing to gain by helping any other country to become a threat to India,' former Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is on the comeback trail, tells Rediff.com in an exclusive interview.
Sri Lankan batting legend Kumar Sangakkara fought back tears in an emotional farewell where the country's President Maithripala Sirisena stumped him by offering the High Commissioner's post to United Kingdom, in Colombo, on Monday.
One of the most charismatic figures of Tamil Nadu politics and the most enduring mascot of the Dravidian movement breathed his last at 6.10 pm.
The protesting fishermen have refused to accept the body of the fisherman unless a central minister visits the island and gives them an assurance that such incidents would not happen again, Rameswaram Fishermen Association President S Emiret said.
In the aftermath of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, allegations have been made that the Muslim militants in Sri Lanka draw sustenance from India. An overarching impression is being created that the ISIS is gaining ground in India, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The two countries also signed memoranda of understanding in education and health sectors after visiting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Lankan counterpart Mangala Samaraweera co-chaired the 9th Indo-Lanka Joint Commission meeting in Colombo.
New Delhi is approaching Gota with an open mind, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Seven persons had been arrested in connection with the blasts.
Even as the United States snuggles closer to India with the thinly veiled objective of containing China, the Indian strategy is to avoid alienating either nation.
'What we have heard from the Sri Lankans is their desire to have a foreign policy that allows Sri Lanka to best advance its own interests rather than a foreign policy that relied solely on one relationship.' 'We think this is an attitude that makes a lot of sense. India and Sri Lanka have many areas of shared interests, and it's certainly welcomed by us to see that deepening of those ties.'
PM Modi addressed the Sri Lanka Parliament on Friday.
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