Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court dismisses challenge to November 14 election date

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has rejected a petition that challenged holding the General Elections on November 14, 2024.

A panel of three judges, Justices Preethi Padman Surasena, Shiran Gunaratne, and Priyantha Fernando, made this decision after carefully reviewing the facts but decided not to proceed with a full hearing.

The court’s decision was influenced by arguments from Additional Solicitor General Viraj Dayaratne, who represented the Attorney General.

He explained that the President had set the election date properly, following the Elections Act, and that preparations for the election were already almost complete.

On October 21, H.M. Priyantha Herath, a civil society activist and leader of the “Api Sri Lanka” national organization, had filed the petition.

The petition argued that scheduling the election for November 14 violated the Constitution. It named the Attorney General, the Secretary to the President, and members of the Election Commission as respondents.

Herath pointed out that, according to the Parliamentary Elections Act, nominations were accepted from October 4 to October 11, 2024.

The Act requires that the election date be set no sooner than five weeks and no later than seven weeks from the close of nominations.

Since the nomination period ended on October 11, the petition claimed the earliest legal date for the election would be November 15, and the latest would be November 29, 2024.

The petitioner asked the Supreme Court to declare that holding the election on November 14 violated the people’s rights and the Constitution and requested that the court order a correction to this decision.