EC informed of MP seat left vacant after Sanath Nishantha’s death

The Parliament has informed the Election Commission of the MP seat left vacant following the demise of State Minister Sanath Nishantha, who represented the Puttalam constituency.

This was communicated in writing to the election body’s chairman on Friday (Jan.26).

The Deputy Secretary General of Parliament has further mentioned that the notification was made in terms of Section 64(1) of the Parliamentary Elections Act No. 1 of 1981.

State Minister Sanath Nishantha, 48, was killed in a fatal accident that took place on the Colombo - Katunayake expressway around 2:00 a.m. on Thursday (Jan.25). The car had crashed into the roadside barrier before rear-ending a moving container truck.

Shortly after the collision, three critically injured people – State Minister Nishantha, his security officer and the driver – had been rushed to the Colombo North Teaching Hospital in Ragama. But the lawmaker and the security officer, a police constable named Jayakody had succumbed to injuries.

The group had been returning from a wedding ceremony held at a hotel in Bandarawatta, Chilaw at the time of the accident.

Born on 03 May 1975, Nishantha had embarked on his political career in 1997. He was elected to the parliament from Puttalam District at the general elections held in 2015 and 2020.