JVP files court action against Karuna's nomination as UPFA MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2008, 19:32 GMT]
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sinhala nationalist party, Tuesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking annulment of the gazette notification issued by the Commissioner of Elections nominating Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, a renegade Tiger commander who turned leader of a paramilitary group operated by the Sri Lanka Army in Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai as a nationalist parliamentarian from the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) to the seat that fell vacant due to the resignation of a JVP parliamentarian Vasantha Samarasinghe, legal sources said.

Tilvin Silva, General Secretary of the JVP has cited the General Secretary of the UPFA, the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Commissioner General of Elections, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan and several others as respondents, legal sources said.

The petitioner says that Vasantha Samarasinghe was appointed nationalist MP from the UPFA list because the JVP was a constituent of the UPFA. Hence the vacant seat should be reserved for the JVP to nominate its member. Therefore the appointment of Karuna is illegal, legal sources said.

Meanwhile, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, was sworn in as national list parliamentarian of the UPFA Tuesday before Speaker W.J.M.Lokkubandara.

Parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) were not present in parliament when Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan took oaths, parliamentary sources said.