By Skandha Gunasekara Presidential candidate, Attorney-at-Law Namal Rajapaksha has been accused of contesting the presidential election illegally, The Sunday Morning learnt. Rajapaksha is listed in the Election Commission (EC) candidate register as a candidate from the Nationalities Unity Organisation (NUO). However, it was revealed to The Sunday Morning that the NUO had not endorsed Rajapaksha in any way. NUO General Secretary Leenus Jayathilake, speaking to The Sunday Morning, said that Rajapaksha had no ties with the former’s political party. “We have nothing to do with Namal Rajapaksha. We have not agreed to field him as our candidate,” Jayathilake said, adding that the NUO was not even contesting the upcoming presidential election. Furthermore, he alleged that Rajapaksha may have forged his signature. “I never signed anything approving this Namal Rajapaksha as our candidate. I don’t understand how he registered himself as a candidate of our party without our approval. He may have forged my signature to do so,” Jayathilake said. When contacted, the Elections Secretariat Director General M.K. Saman Sri Rathnayake said that NUO would need to seek legal action to resolve the situation. “The only course of action for this political party is to take the matter up before the judiciary,” Rathnayake said. Attempts to contact Namal Rajapaksha were futile.