The Supreme Court today ordered the Election Commission to take steps, in accordance with the law, to conduct elections for the appointment of members to the Kalmunai Municipal Council and the Sainthamaruthu Urban Council.

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice Janak De Silva, Justice Priyantha Fernando and Justice Sampath Abayakoon, made this order while delivering its judgment in a Fundamental Rights petition filed by two residents of the Sainthamaruthu area.

The petitioners claimed that they were residents within the Sainthamaruthu Urban Council area, but that Sainthamaruthu had not been included in a gazette notification issued in 2020 calling for nominations. The petitioners further alleged that the non-inclusion of Sainthamaruthu as an Urban Council in the gazette notification amounted to a violation of their fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

The Supreme Court further directed the President, represented by the Attorney General, to publish a gazette notification specifying the number of wards, their boundaries, names, numbers, or alphabetical letters assigned to each ward created on the recommendations of the National Committee in respect of the Kalmunai Municipal Council and the Sainthamaruthu Urban Council.

Counsel Suren Gnanaraj with Rashmi Dias appeared for the petitioners.