Petition filed seeking to halt polls for CMC

The National People’s Party (Jathika Janatha Pakshaya) has filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking an interim order against holding elections for the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) pending the court’s decision on the rejection of its nomination list. 

The party had filed a writ petition with the Supreme Court challenging the recent rejection of its nominations list for the Colombo Municipal Council. 

The petition has been filed by three candidates including the secretary of the party, President’s Counsel Srinath Perera, while the Chairman of the Elections Commission Mahinda Deshapriya is among the names listed as respondents. 

The petitioners say that the party’s nomination list for the Colombo Municipal Council was rejected by the Colombo Returning Officer citing that the attested copies were not submitted along with the nominations list.

They state that the decision taken to reject the nominations list in that manner was unlawful and therefore requests the court to issue a directive to the respondents to accept the rejected nominations list. 

The petition also urges the court issue an interim order against holding polls for the Colombo Municipal Council until hearing of the petition is concluded and a final decision is delivered by the court.