The party membership of Navaratne Mudiyanselage Wijepala, who was elected to the Kandaketiya Pradeshiya Sabha from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), has been suspended with immediate effect.

Meanwhile, the party membership of Narahenpitage Susil Kumara Costa, who was elected to the Kolonnawa Urban Council after polling the highest number of votes from the SJB, has also been suspended.

A statement issued by the SJB, signed by the party’s General Secretary, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, confirmed the suspensions.

This decision was made due to their failure to comply with directives issued by the SJB Management Committee and the Party Working Committee regarding the election of the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Kandaketiya Pradeshiya Sabha and Kolonnawa Urban Council, respectively.

Furthermore, a heated situation was reported this morning (18), when a secret ballot was called to elect the Chairman of the Kolonnawa Urban Council during the inaugural session.

The NPP had won 09 seats in the Kolonnawa Urban Council, while opposition parties secured 10 seats in total at the Local Government (LG) election.

However, following the heated situation, 09 opposition members walked out of the council chamber while Susil Kumara, who received the highest number of votes from the SJB, remained and expressed his support for the NPP.

Accordingly, Dhammika Wijayamuni of the NPP was elected Chairman of the Kolonnawa Urban Council after securing 10 votes in the secret ballot and Saman Seneviratna was elected to the position of Deputy Chairman.