Former Minister Rosy Senanayake filed an Election Petition with the Supreme Court, requesting the court to order a recount of Colombo District Preferential Votes at the August 17 General Election.

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Senanayake has named several respondents including the Elections Commissioner in her petition.

Senanayake came 12th in the UNP preferential list in Colombo District. Only 11 UNP candidates entered the Parliament.

The case was fixed to be resumed on November 30.

The two SLMC national list appointees M.S. Salman and A.R.A. Hafeez are expected to resign and give space for two new appointees, media reports said.

The two SLMC members were appointed through the UNP national list. However, they are likely to be replaces in the near future, either by two members of the party High Command or two defeated candidates, local media reports said.

Political sources told Asian Mirror that the two appointees are staunch loyalists of party leader Rauff Hakeem and that they will resign if asked by the party leadership. They were named through the national list since they will resign as per the request of the party leadership at any given moment, one source alleged.

The UNP said earlier that it will not appoint defeated candidates through the national list. However, the UNP national list included one defeated candidate, MHM Navavi. He belonged to the All Ceylon Makkal Congress led by Rishad Bathiudeen.

Bathiudeen explained that the UNP did not appoint defeated candidates among its party members. However, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe allowed the constituent members of the United National Front to decide on their appointments to the national list, Bathiudeen said. Therefore, once it was known that the ACMC will be allowed to name one national list MP through the UNP list, the party was free to decide on its own as to who should be appointed, he added.

All Ceylon Makkal Congress leader Rishad Bathiudeen said yesterday that his party was deprived of a seat it was entitled in the Digamadulla District in the recently concluded general election.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday he said that he was taking legal measures to fight for the seat the ACMC has lost.

The ACMC contested the election in several districts under the UNP ticket and four of its members were elected to parliament. Meanwhile, one member was appointed through the national list.

However, the ACMC contested alone in the Digamadulla District and received 33,102 votes (10.15%). This surpassed the 5 percent threshold to be entitled for a seat. However, since there are only seven seats in the district, the ACMC did not receive one.

The UNP won four seats, followed by the UPFA (2 seats) and the ITAK (1 seat).

The JVP named former Parliamentarian Sunil Handunnetti and former Auditor-General Sarath Chandra Mayadunne as its national list MPs.

Mayadunne led the list submitted to the Elections Commissioner by the JVP on July 13. Handunnetti contested the election from Matara District and but failed to enter the parliament.

There was a strong campaign by some JVP supporters demanding the appointment of Handunnetti through the national list. There was another demand to appoint K.D. Lalkantha through the list. The party politburo was reportedly divided over the matter and ended up in a compromise.

Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya expressed his gratitude for the Facebook users who assisted the Elections Department to conduct a free and fair election.

Publishing a statement on the Elections Department Facebook Page, Deshapriya said that he expected their support in the future elections too.

The Elections Department was actively engaged in the social media front through its Facebook Page during the 2015 General Election. There was also a Facebook page titled 'Tell Commissioner-Sri Lanka Elections' through which the public could report instances of election law violations.

Serious divisions have reportedly arisen within the JVP on the appointment of its two national list MPs.

The politburo reportedly is divided over the appointment of two national list MPs as there is serious demands to appoint two defeated candidates K. D. Lalkantha and Sunil Handunnetti.

Those who oppose this move criticize the demand to appoint defeated candidates to national list, insisting that such moves would tarnish the image of the JVP which stood for good governance and democracy.

As per the list sent to the Election Commissioner, former Auditor General Sarath Chandrasiri Mayadunne and prominent lawyer Crishmal Warnasuriya are at number one and two of the national list.

Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said that only a few candidates who contested for the general election under the UNP ticket conducted a political campaign and that his son Chatura Senaratne was one of them.

Taking part in a political talk show on a local radio channel, Senaratne said that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had also commended several candidates for conducting a political campaign. His son was among them, Senaratne said.

He added that many UNP candidates were conducting personal campaigns to increase their preferential vote. Had they conducted a campaign for the party instead, the UNP would have done even better, he said. Senaratne said that he was able to lead the Kalutara District preferential votes since he conducted a political campaign.

Senaratne also said that most UNP candidates were enjoying the January 8 victory, rather than thinking ahead. However, Wickremesinghe had correctly understood that the victory on January 8th was not UNP's alone, Senaratne pointed out. He added that the Prime Minister wanted to complete the victory and strived for it.

Wickremesinghe once said that the UNP was weak in several electorates in Gampaha District, Rajitha Senaratne said, claiming that the Prime Minister suggested the increased engagement of Chathura Senaratne and Athuraliye Rathana Thera in these electorates.

Chathura Senaratne managed to come at the 8th position from Gampaha District UNP Preferential Votes list with 71,243 preferences.