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By Veeragathy Thanabalasingham
Colombo, November 15 (newsin.asia): After the twenty first Modification to the Structure was handed by Parliament final month and the Speaker signed and put it into pressure, nobody with twin citizenship could be a member of Parliament. It has additionally turn into not possible for them to contest any election and are available to positions elected by the folks. It’s consistent with the dignity of their posts that the folks’s representatives who are actually in Parliament admit to holding twin citizenship and resign their posts.
However three weeks later, none of our twin citizen MPs have performed so.
Ten MPs are mentioned to have twin citizenship. The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) chief Champika Ranawaka has acknowledged this overtly. If there are certainly ten such folks, they’re illegally sitting in Parliament. Have a look at how Sri Lankan democracy is being ridiculed!
All members of the present Parliament had been elected on the August 2020 basic election. At the moment, the nineteenth Modification to the Structure, which had a provision prohibiting twin residents from contesting elections was in pressure. It’s apparent that the MPs, who’re mentioned to carry twin citizenship, had hid the reality once they filed nomination papers to contest that election. That they had hidden the reality not solely from the Election Fee but in addition from the leaders of their events. Or it have to be mentioned that the leaders nominated them as candidates regardless of understanding the reality.
The foremost problem within the matter is the issue dealing with the state establishments concerned, together with parliament, in figuring out dual-citizenship MPs.
When speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena was questioned by the media in regards to the risk that twin residents had been elected or appointed to parliament he mentioned it was not parliament’s duty to seek out it out, however that of the Election Fee. However when an individual information nomination papers to contest elections, it’s not the duty of the Elections Fee to analyze his/her citizenship, says its Chairman Nimal Punchihewa.
His stand is that anybody can method the courtroom within the matter if there may be sufficient proof. It’s to be famous that former Election Fee Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya additionally took the identical stance when complaints had been made that Gotabaya Rajapaksa filed his nomination for the 2019 Presidential election with out giving up his US citizenship.
It has been introduced that the Division of Immigration and Emigration will submit a report in regards to the controversy that has arisen over some MPs conserving their twin citizenship secret. If such a report is submitted, those that are recognized as members of Parliament however ate twin residents should give up their posts. It isn’t recognized whether or not they are going to insist that their standing be determined by the courtroom even after they’ve been recognized.
Those that contested the final basic election concealing their twin citizenship and had been elected to parliament have been members of the Home for greater than two years. It isn’t recognized whether or not the salaries, particular allowances and advantages they’ve obtained to date will likely be recovered from them within the occasion that they’re uncovered and compelled to depart parliament. This needs to be determined by Parliament.
However the involved MPs might also argue that they haven’t performed something unlawful or improper because the twentieth Modification, which was later handed in October 2020, allowed folks with twin citizenships to come back to Parliament regardless that the nineteenth Modification was in pressure once they contested the elections. However there isn’t a query that when the nomination papers had been filed, they hid the actual fact of twin citizenship and had been bypassing the regulation.
The leaders of the political events which are a part of parliament have an vital duty within the matter. However none of them appears to have but realized that they’ve an ethical obligation to satisfy that duty. Leaders ought to discover out if any of their get together’s MPs have twin citizenship and ask them to resign. Will they accomplish that?
Because the passage of the 21 st.,modification, no MP has voluntarily declared that he has twin citizenship and are available ahead to resign. ‘Discover out for those who can’ appears to be their method to this problem. Maybe they don’t even care in regards to the humiliation that may befall them when the reality is found and they’re compelled to resign. Such is the standard of our present-day politicians.
END
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