The Election Commission of Sri Lanka has issued a Gazette notification declaring that former minister Ravi Karunanayake has been elected as a Member of Parliament through the National List of the New Democratic Front (NDF), which contested the General Election under the ‘Gas Cylinder’ symbol.

Earlier today, it was reported that the New Democratic Front (NDF) has nominated Karunanayake for one of the two National List seats won by the party in Parliament.

However, it was later reported that the leader of the New Democratic Front (NDF), former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, has informed the party representatives that the decision to nominate Ravi Karunanayake for one of the two NDF National List MP seats has been taken in an arbitrary manner without the consent of Wickremesinghe and the other parties in the alliance.

According to the results of the 2024 General Election, the New Democratic Front (NDF), which contested under the symbol of the ‘Gas Cylinder’, won three parliamentary seats and two National List seats.

The New Democratic Front was formed by the United National Party (UNP), the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the ‘Podujana Eksath Nidahas Peramuna’ to contest the election. 

Accordingly, it had been proposed to name one member each from the ‘Podujana Eksath Nidahas Peramuna’ and the United National Party (UNP) for the two National List seats while the final decision on the matter was expected to be taken tomorrow (18) collectively by all parties in the alliance. 

It is said that former President Ranil Wickremesinghe had also informed the General Secretary of the New Democratic Front, Mrs. Sharmila Perera, of this relevant position.

A proposal had also been put forward to nominate former Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, who contested the election from Matara District but was not elected, for the position of National List MP from the ‘Podujana Eksath Nidahas Peramuna’ faction.

However, despite this, the name of Ravi Karunanayake had been sent to the Election Commission today in writing by the General Secretary of the NDF, Mrs. Sharmila Perera, to fill one of the National List MP seats of the New Democratic Front.

But former President Wickremesinghe has reportedly informed the representatives of the New Democratic Front that Karunanayake’s name had been nominated for the position of National List MP in an arbitrary manner without his consent and the approval of the other parties in the alliance.

The former president has further said that this arbitrary decision taken by the party secretary cannot be approved when all the parties of the alliance are scheduled to meet in Colombo tomorrow morning to make a decision regarding the two National List MP seats obtained by the New Democratic Front.

However, the stakeholders of the New Democratic Front (NDF), including former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, are scheduled to meet tomorrow to discuss the issue related to the two National List MP seats including the nomination of Ravi Karunanayake.

The NDF managed to secure a total of 5 seats in the Parliament including 2 National List seats in the 2024 Parliamentary Election, as they obtained a total of 500,835 votes from across the island.

In the meantime, Anuradha Jayarathne, who obtained 20,749 preferential votes in the Kandy District, former MP Rohitha Abeygunawardhana who secured 10,204 preferential votes in the Kalutara District and Chamara Sampath Dassanayake who received 19,359 preferential votes in the Badulla District are the only NDF parliamentary candidates who have secured seats in the 10th Parliament.