Since of late it is being discussed among UNPers themselves that the only way to revive the UNP is to bring back Mr. S. B. Dissanayake to Parliament, have K. N. Choksy (the only UNP National List MP) resign his seat, and appoint “SB” in Mr. Choksy’s place.
I did not know that the UNP, which can boast of quite a few legal luminaries on its side, has fallen to such dire straits. It was none other than “SB” himself who went to Court on this matter (Dissanayake v. Wijesekera, CA 3/2005), and here is what the Court held:
“It was conceded that Article 89(d) requires the following three essential pre-conditions to exist resulting in the disqualification;
(a) that there must be a “conviction” by a court;
(b) that the conviction must be for an “offence”; and
(c) that the person convicted must be serving a sentence of imprisonment for a term not less than six months and the law must make such offence punishable with imprisonment for a period of not less than two years.
“The petitioner therefore satisfies all three pre-conditions in Article 89 (d) resulting in the disqualification.”
Any further discussion on this subject by anybody is “much ado about nothing”. |
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