Colombo: Rehabilitated former members of the now defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militant group have formed a new political party with the hope of contesting Sri Lanka's general elections this year, a media report said on Tuesday.

M.A. Yogeshwaran, the media spokesman of the party registered as 'The Vanni Tamil People Union', said it included 13 former members of the militant group that waged the almost three-decades long civil war for an independent Tamil Eelam state in the north and east of the island nation.

The party has decided to contest the elections representing the Jaffna and Vanni districts.

Many youths from universities and professionals including engineers and doctors have obtained membership of this party, the Daily Mirror newspaper report quoted Yogeshwaran as saying.

He said the objective of their party was to conduct development activities with the participation of youths in Vanni and provide solutions to issues faced by people in the mainland area of the Northern Province since any political party functioning in the region had failed to do so.