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MP Premalal Jayasekara permitted to attend Parliament

08 Sep 2020

The Department of Prisons has been informed to allow MP Premalal Jayasekara to attend parliamentary sittings. The Court of Appeal has issued an interim order on the Commissioner General of Prisons in this regard. The writ application had been filed before the Court of Appeal, requesting to grant Jayasekara, who was sentenced to death in July, permission to attend parliamentary sessions. The Commissioner General of Prisons, Welikada Prison Superintendent, and the Secretary General of Parliament were cited as the respondents of this writ application. The decision on whether the petition will be taken up for consideration and whether an interim order will be issued permitting Jayasekara to attend parliamentary sittings were to be delivered yesterday (7). Accordingly, the interim order was issued by Court of Appeal Judge Bench, Court of Appeal Acting President A.H.M.D. Nawaz, and Justice Sobhitha Rajakaruna. Announcing the decision, Justice Nawaz stated in open court that no court decision has been previously issued noting that the election of Jayasekara as a Member of Parliament was illegal. Accordingly, there is no legal impediment for the petitioner to enjoy all the rights of a Member of Parliament as per the Constitution, Justice Nawaz pointed out. Thereby, no legal impediment presents itself to Jayasekara being sworn in as an MP, he declared. The hearing of the petition was postponed to 29 September. On 31 July, Premalal Jayasekara, alias “Choka Malli”, was sentenced to death by the Ratnapura High Court over a murder committed in 2015. Jayasekara, however, was elected to Parliament at the 2020 general election and managed to secure the second position in the Ratnapura District preferential votes after contesting through Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). The Speaker of the Parliament had instructed the Commissioner General of Prisons to bring Jayasekara to Parliament on 8 September. As prison rules and regulations have not made provisions regarding an inmate on death row acting as a public representative, the Commissioner General of Prisons had inquired on the matter from the Ministry of Justice, which in turn made an inquiry from the Attorney General (AG). Subsequently, the AG informed that Jayasekara was not eligible to act as a Member of Parliament under Articles 89 (d) and 91 (1) (a) of the Constitution. Accordingly, if Jayasekara loses his parliamentary seat, the next candidate who received the highest number of preferential votes in the district will be eligible for the seat. As per the results of the 2020 general election, the next two SLPP candidates after Jayasekara have received the same number of preferential votes. The two eligible candidates are Sunny Rohana Kodithuwakku and Ranjith Bandara who is a relative of Jayasekara. The Election Commission (EC) has stated that in such a case, the most suitable candidate for the seat would be selected via lottery.


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