All 13 nominations of Jaswar’s camp accepted

Wednesday, 30 August 2023 00:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Football Sri Lanka nominations

Sumathipala’s camp eight accepted, five rejected

In a communique released yesterday, the Electoral Committee of Football Sri Lanka (FSL) has informed they have accepted the nomination of former President Jaswar Umar's camp comprising 13 members, while eight nominees from the rival camp of Dacshitha Sumathipala were accepted and five rejected.

The three-member committee headed by former High Court Judges Dr. U.L. Abdul Majeed, Bandula K. Atapattu and retired Major General Upali Gunasekere deliberated for almost 10 days from 19 August and evaluated all applications submitted by both parties before releasing their final decision. The election will be held on 29 September.

The panel raised several queries, including seeking additional supporting documents from both camps and found that all 13 nominees of Jaswar's faction met the criteria set out, while his rival Sumathipala's faction had eight nominations accepted and 5 rejected.

Presidential candidate Dacshitha Sumathipala, Vice-President Candidate T.I. Uduwara, Executive Committee members N.S.B. Dissanayake, U. Nihal Perera and K.P.H.M. Ariyaratna were rejected as they failed to meet the criteria required by the FSL statutes.

However, the rejected candidates have been granted permission to make an appeal to the Appeal Board on or before 31 August which will be taken up for consideration between 1 to 3 September. The final outcome of these appeals will be notified on 4 September.

It is also noteworthy that the same panel of judges rejected Jaswar’s nomination at the eleventh hour of the last election held in 2022, but after the Appeal Court gave a clear verdict the former President's camp qualified without any hassle.