The Second Reading of Budget 2019 was passed in Parliament a short while ago with a majority of 43 votes.
By Sandun Jayawardana
A total of 119 MPs voted for the motion while 76 voted against it.
United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MPs from the "Joint Opposition" and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) voted against the Budget while the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) joined the United National Front (UNF) in voting in favour of the Budget.
The two Opposition MPs from the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) including its leader Arumugam Thondaman also voted in favour of the Budget.
A total of 29 MPs were absent at the time of voting.
A number of prominent MPs from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) allied to President Maithripala Sirisena were absent when the vote was taken. They included Chief Opposition Whip Mahinda Amaraweera, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekara, Nimal Siripala De Silva and Duminda Dissanayake.
The Committee Stage Debate of Budget 2019 will commence tomorrow (13) and a vote on the Third Reading will be taken on April 5.
All Ceylon Makkal Congress MP Ali Sabri Raheem had been arrested by Kalpitiya police after he surrendered to the police today morning.
Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena has been sent on compulsory leave pending disciplinary investigation over his failure to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings.
An interim order prohibiting Deshabandu Tennakoon from carrying out his duties as Inspector General of Police (IGP) has been issued by the Supreme Court.
The 22nd amendment to the constitution dealing with the term of the President has been gazetted by order of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
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