Alexander v. Chandrananda De Silva, Commissioner of Elections and Others – sllr 1996 volume 2 page 301

In the case between ALEXANDER (Appellant) and CHANDRANANDA DE SILVA, COMMISSIONER OF ELECTIONS, among other respondents, the court addressed whether non-compliance with statutory provisions relating to the counting of preference votes under sections 91 and 92 of the Parliamentary Elections Act No. 1 of 1981 constitutes a valid ground for avoiding an election, and whether such avoidance may apply to a specific candidate or must affect the entire electoral district. The holding established that the Parliamentary Elections Act requires any invalidation due to non-compliance to apply to the entirety of the election within the electoral district rather than to the election of individual candidates. The principle reaffirmed that courts must not substitute judicial activism for clear legislative