Naseer’s seat vacant: Parliament informs EC

MP Naseer Ahamed 

Parliamentary Secretary General Kushani Anusha Rohanadeera has officially notified the Election Commission of Sri Lanka (ECSL) that the Parliamentary seat held by Environment Minister Naseer Ahmed Zainulabdeen has now become vacant.

Accordingly, it is expected that the candidate who received the second-highest number of votes in the Batticaloa district list of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) at the 2020 poll will fill the seat left vacant by Zainulabdeen.

SLMC Vice President Seyed Ali Zahir Mowlana is now expected to re-enter Parliament to assume the seat formerly held by Zainulabdeen.

Zainulabdeen lost his seat following a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court last week, which affirmed the validity and lawfulness of his expulsion from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC).

In April 2022, the SLMC decided to expel Party Member Zainulabdeen after he switched alliances and was sworn in as the Environment Minister in the Gotabaya Rajapaksa-led Government.

The party cited Zainulabdeen’s decision to vote in favour of the 2022 budget in December 2021, which ran counter to the SLMC’s stance, as the reason for his expulsion. The party accused him of breaching party discipline before ousting him. 

Following this Minister Zainulabdeen submitted a petition before the Supreme Court, contesting the SLMC’s suspension of his party membership. However, the bench rejected the Fundamental Rights petition submitted by the Minister, which sought an order invalidating the SLMC’s decision to expel him and upheld the decision by the SLMC as valid.