Petition seeks to postpone NPC elections

By Stanley Samarasinghe-Wednesday, 18 Sep 2013

The Supreme Court (SC) which examined the five petitions that were filed, seeking to Court to postpone the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) elections, issued notice on the respondents to appear in Court on 2 October.

The petitions were heard by a three-judge panel comprising the Chief Justice, Mohan Peiris, and Justices K. Sripavan and Rohini Marasinghe, yesterday.

Five petitioners including Dr. Gunadasa Sooriyarachchi Amarasekera of the Deshapremi National Alliance had filed the petitions.
Secretary of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi, Mavai Senathiraja, Chairman of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R. Sampanthan, Elections Commissioner, Mahinda Deshapriya, and the Attorney General have been cited as respondents in the petitions.

The petitions stated that the TNA that is contesting the NPC elections had made a series of promises to the Northern voters. One of the promises is, if they win, they will be establishing a separate state. Under the Constitution, Sri Lanka is a sovereign state, and under it, a separate government cannot be created, the petition points out.

As it is stated in their list of promises, and foreign and local funding are anticipated, the petitioners seeks a Court order to postpone the election as it is ultra vires the Constitution.

The petitioners have asked Court to make a declaration that the aim of the TNA is to create a separate state.
Attorney-at-Law, Kanishka Wijeratne and Kapila Gamage, appeared on behalf of the petitioners.