The Supreme Court has determined that the Registration of Electors (Special Provisions) Bill is in accordance with the constitution, the Speaker informed the Parliament today (6).
The Registration of Electors (Special Provisions) Act, No. 27 of 2013 was drafted for making provisions to facilitate displaced persons to use their right of vote in their permanent residence before they were displaced.
The proposal made by Minister of Justice Wijayadasa Rajapaksa to publish the bill in the gazette and present it in the parliament for approval had received Cabinet approval last month.
The government had formulated a policy to enable internally displaced persons and their children eligible to vote to exercise their right to franchise in the electoral district in which their permanent places of residence were situated prior to being internally displaced.
It had become necessary to make special legal provision in order to give effect to such policy.
The Supreme Court determination had been sought as to whether the bill is in accordance with the constitution.
