Heated scenes in Parliament over Ramanayake’s seat 

• SJB MPs protest carrying placards inside Chamber 
• Speaker suspends sittings to bring House under control

There were chaotic scenes in Parliament yesterday with placard-carrying MPs of the main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) demanding that the Secretary-General of Parliament withdraw the letter sent to the Election Commission saying the seat of jailed SJB Ranjan Ramanayake has fallen vacant. 

The uproar led Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to suspend sittings of the House for 15 minutes.

“There is a conspiracy to get rid of Ramanayake from Parliament and the Speaker is involved in it,” Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said. 

The Speaker said the decision on Ramanayake was taken after considering the relevant constitutional provisions.  Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardena said Ramanayake is not the first MP to lose his seat in Parliament following a court ruling.  “Late Lalith Athulathmudali, G. M. Premachandra and Gamini Dissanayake also lost their seats after judgments delivered by the courts against them,” he said.