• No 2 times the charm as his nomination too under NDF fire in Ravi K sequel 

The Election Commission (EC) has issued a Gazette notification confirming that President’s Counsel and former Minister Faiszer Musthapha has been elected as a Member of Parliament through the National List of the New Democratic Front (NDF), which contested the 2024 General Election under the ‘gas cylinder’ symbol.

On Tuesday (10), it was reported that the NDF had nominated Musthapha for the remaining National List seat out of the two won by the party in the Parliament.

However, a dispute has emerged within the NDF concerning the nomination of Musthapha for a National List MP position with the coalition partners alleging that this decision has been made without consulting them. Former Parliamentarian Dr. Ramesh Pathirana stated that there was unanimous agreement to appoint former Minister Kanchana Wijesekera to the remaining National List MP position. However, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, a key partner in the NDF, had proposed Musthapha’s name for the position.  

The other National List MP seat had been filled by former Minister Ravi Karunanayake of the United National Party (UNP), also under somewhat controversial circumstances.

The NDF, which contested under the ‘gas cylinder’ symbol in the 2024 General Election, secured two National List seats. Accordingly, it had been proposed to name one member each from the ‘Podujana Eksath Nidahas Peramuna’ and the UNP for the two National List seats while the final decision on the matter was expected to be taken collectively by all parties in the alliance. A proposal had also been put forward to nominate Wijesekera, who contested the Election from the Matara District but was not elected, for the position of the National List MP from the ‘Podujana Eksath Nidahas Peramuna’ faction while a decision was yet to be taken on the other seat. However, despite this, the name of Karunanayake had been sent to the Election Commission on 18 November, in writing, by NDF General Secretary, Sharmila Perera, nominating him for one of the National List MP seats of the NDF. This move had come under backlash from within the alliance with it also being reported that former President Ranil Wickremesinghe had informed the representatives of the NDF that Karunanayake’s name had been forwarded for the position of National List MP in an arbitrary manner without his consent and the approval of the other parties in the alliance. A committee was later appointed to look into the matter.