Geetha's dual citizenship: Parliament receives SC ruling

7 November 2017 08:23 pm Views - 4895

The Supreme Court ruling was received by Parliament this afternoon, which disqualified actress turned parliamentarian, Geetha Kumarasinghe from holding parliament membership and promptly referred this matter to the Elections Commission, the Speaker’s office announced today.

As such Ms. Kumarasinghe, a former Galle District UPFA parliamentarian will be barred from serving as an MP and Piyasena Gamage who is next in line of the Galle District UPFA electoral list will be eligible to be sworn in as a parliamentarian to fill the vacant slot.

The Supreme Court last week confirmed the Court of Appeal ruling, which held that Ms.

Kumarasinghe, who was elected to Parliament at the 2015 general election, was disqualified from being an MP on the basis of being a dual citizen of Sri Lanka and Switzerland. (Sandun A. Jayasekera)