By Susil Premalal

(Daily Mirror) - The five-member Election Committee has suspended the voting rights of 13 affiliated members out of the 32-strong District Associations membership ahead of the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL) 2024-2026 elections on July 25 in Colombo.

This is the first time in history that such a large number of District Associations have been suspended before the NFSL elections. Retired High Court Judge Sarath Edirisinghe heads the five-member NFSL Election Committee and the rest of the members are Padmajina Siriwardena (Retired Additional Secretary), C. Rathnamudali (Retired Director Sports), I. M. Ranasinghe (Senior Lecturer) and N. A. T. Jayasinghe (Retired Superintendent of Police).

The nominations for the NFSL elections closed on June 28 and the suspended District Member Associations are Ampara, Colombo, Nuwara Eliya, Jaffna, Kalutara, Matale, Matara, Polonnaruwa, Vavuniya, Free Trade Zone, Mercantile, Youth Service and Sports & Recreation Netball Association.

The 13 District Member Associations were suspended based on the NFSL Constitution and under the regulations of the Director General of the Department of Sports Development NFSL Election Committee sources told the Daily Mirror.

The significant feature is the suspension imposed on two leading district associations – Colombo and the Mercantile – which have conducted their annual tournaments regularly in addition to having produced several top national players for Sri Lanka Junior and Senior Teams.

With the suspension of Colombo and Mercantile Associations, few prominent officials will not be able to submit their nominations for the NFSL elections.

Meanwhile, some of the suspended associations have already lodged their protest and are set to make an official complaint with the Minister of Sports Harin Fernando.

The associations that have qualified to cast their vote at the NFSL elections according to the nominations list are Anuradhapura, Badulla, Batticaloa, Gampaha, Galle, Hambantota, Kandy, Kegalle, Kilinochchi, Kurunegala, Monaragala, Mannar, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Mahaweli, State Service, Sri Lanka University, Western Province and Nationalised Services.

The deadline for the acceptance of objections for the NFSL nominations is July 2 (tomorrow) and the outcome will be announced on the following day. Former Sri Lanka and former Asian Netball Association President Tamara Dharmakeerthi Herath along with the incumbent NFSL President and the Asian Netball Association President Lakshmi Victoria are set to contest for the top post at the NFSL elections.