A.D. Susil Premajayanth Vs. Dayananda Dissanayake and others – CA WRIT 90/2011-2011

In the case between A.D. Susil Premajayanth, Secretary, United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) (Petitioner) and Dayananda Dissanayake, Commissioner of Elections and others (Respondents), the court addressed whether a Returning Officer lawfully rejected a nomination paper for the Poonagary Pradeshiya Sabha elections due to a minor discrepancy in the party’s Tamil name (“Kootamaippu” vs “Munnani”), although all other requirements were satisfied. It was held that such variation was not a material defect under Section 31 of the Local Authorities Election Ordinance, and the nomination paper otherwise conformed with mandatory statutory requirements. The findings reaffirmed the principle that nomination papers must be evaluated strictly according to prescribed statutory grounds, and minor errors