Court orders re-acceptance of rejected LG election nominations

The Court of Appeal has issued an order today directing the relevant Returning Officers to re-accept approximately 37 nomination papers that were previously rejected for candidates contesting several Local Government (LG) institutions across Sri Lanka.

The ruling was delivered by a two-member Court of Appeal bench consisting of Acting President of the Court of Appeal Justice Mohammed Thahir Laffar and Justice K.P. Fernando.

The decision follows writ petitions filed by several political parties and independent groups, challenging the rejection of their nomination papers for the upcoming LG elections.

Among the petitioners were political entities such as the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the ‘Sarvajana Balaya’ alliance, and multiple independent groups. These petitions contested the rejection of nominations for several local government bodies, including the Colombo Municipal Council.

In response, the court ordered the Returning Officers to temporarily suspend election-related activities for the Colombo Municipal Council and several other local government bodies until today, pending a final decision on the petitions.

Earlier in the proceedings, the Court of Appeal also instructed the Election Commission to accept nominations for the 2025 Local Government Elections from candidates whose nominations had been rejected due to the absence of original birth certificates.

This decision followed a court-mediated agreement allowing such nominations to be reconsidered.