The Court of Appeal has directed the relevant Returning Officers to re-accept nearly 37 previously rejected nomination papers submitted by candidates seeking to contest in various Local Government (LG) bodies across the country.
The order was issued by a two-member bench comprising Acting President of the Court of Appeal Justice Mohammed Thahir Laffar and Justice K.P. Fernando, following the consideration of writ petitions filed by several political parties and independent groups challenging the rejection of their nominations for the upcoming LG elections.
A total of 37 writ petitions were submitted to the Court of Appeal by political parties including the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the ‘Sarvajana Balaya’ alliance, and several independent groups. These petitions contested the rejection of nomination papers for several local bodies, including the Colombo Municipal Council.
Accordingly, the court also ordered the Returning Officers to temporarily halt all election-related activities pertaining to the Colombo Municipal Council and other affected LG institutions until today, pending a final ruling on the matter.
Earlier in the proceedings, the Court of Appeal instructed the Election Commission to accept nominations for the 2025 Local Government elections from candidates who had submitted original birth certificates. This followed an agreement reached in court to accept such documents from among the previously rejected nominations.
