Eelaventhan loses membership in SL parliament

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2007, 18:55 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) national list parliamentarian M.K. Eelaventhan was not allowed to take part in the third voting of the 2008 Budget in the Sri Lankan parliament Friday. Sergeant At Arms at the Sri Lankan parliament asked the senior Tamil MP to leave the parliament as he had lost his membership in the House due to his nonattendance for more than three months, parliamentary sources said.

Mr. Eelaventhan had taken three months leave and had informed the speaker that he would be out of the country. He overstayed and failed to return on time, but was allowed to enter the Sri Lankan parliament and take part in the debate during the third reading of the budget without objections.

On Friday, he was not allowed to participate in the voting.

The Tamil National Alliance would consider another candidate after allowing Eelaventhan to appeal for regaining his membership in the parliament, informed sources said.