Dismissal of the petition contesting Ranil’s election as an MP. The Supreme Court today dismissed a challenge filed under the Fundamental Rights Act that questioned the validity of Ranil Wickremasinghe’s election as a Member of Parliament.
The Supreme Court’s three-judge bench, made up of Justices Gamini Amarasekara, Shiran Goonaratne, and Janak de Silva, declined to grant permission to continue with this case on a number of grounds, including the fact that it was filed after the deadline.
This petition was filed by Vinivida Peramuna’s General Secretary Nagananda Kodituwakku in an effort to have the UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe declared ineligible and barred from running for Office as a UNP Member of Parliament.
Kanishka de Silva, a Deputy Solicitor General, spoke on behalf of the Attorney General and voiced preliminary objections to the petition on the grounds that it had been filed after the deadline.
She further claimed that the petitioner had submitted a similar application that the Supreme Court had rejected and that the petitioner was guilty of wrongfully suppressing relevant facts.
At the outset of the court proceedings, President’s Counsel Ronald Perera representing Acting President also moved Court to dismiss the petition while concurring with the first objections made by Attorney General.
According to the petitioner, the right of the people to choose their representatives in Parliament is a fundamental component of their sovereignty and is protected by the Constitution itself. This means that a common law measure like the Parliamentary Election Act cannot be used to override this right.
According to Kodituwakku, the Constitution—the supreme law of the land—clearly says that nominations for the National List must be submitted to the Election Commission no later than one week after the Party Secretaries get notice from the Election Commission.
The petitioner claims that the General Secretary of the UNP failed to submit a name to fill the National List MP slot that had been assigned to the UNP by the Election Commission in accordance with the notices served on them by the former Chairman of the Election Commission within the time frame required by Article 99A of the Constitution.
The petitioner claims he is entitled to a declaration that the Election Commission, which improperly elected Ranil Wickremasinghe, breached his right to equity and equal treatment before the law under Article 12(1).
