If the Supreme Court accepts the letter from the Election Commission submitted by Attorney-at-Law Mr. Aruna Laksiri against the 22nd Amendment, the presidential and parliamentary term will be 6 years...! No more Provincial Council elections either...!

If the Supreme Court accepts the letter from the Election Commission submitted by Attorney-at-Law Mr. Aruna Laksiri against the 22nd Amendment, the presidential and parliamentary term will be 6 years...! No more Provincial Council elections either...!

The Chairman of the Election Commission, Mr. Ananda Rathnayake, informed the Secretary to the President, Mr. Sanath Kumanayake, on 11.08.2025 to brief the President and take necessary steps to correctly translate Article 83(ආ) of the Constitution into Article 83(b) of the Constitution written in the English language. This letter has been submitted to the Supreme Court by Attorney-at-Law Mr. Aruna Laksiri during the lawsuits filed against the 22nd Amendment and the amendment to the Judicature Act No. 2 of 1978. According to the matters pointed out in that letter, there is a contradiction between Article 83(ආ) of the Constitution and Article 83(b) of the Constitution written in the English language. Article 83(ආ) of the Constitution is as follows: "30 වන ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ (2) වන අනුව්‍යවස්ථාවේ නැතහොත් 62 වන ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ (2) වන අනුව්‍යවස්ථාවේ විධිවිධාන සංශෝධනය කිරීම හෝ පරිච්ඡින්න කොට ප්‍රතියෝජනය කිරීම හෝ සඳහා වූ නැතහොත් ඒ විධිවිධානවලට අනනුකූල වන්නා වූ ද අවස්ථාවෝචිත පරිදි ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ ධූර කාලය සාවුරුද්දක් ඉක්මවා දීර්ඝ කරන්නා වූ නැතහොත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව පවත්නා කාලය සාවුරුද්දක් ඉක්මවා දීර්ඝ කරන්නා වූ ද පනත් කෙටුම්පතක්, There are 4 main points 1. Amending the provisions of Article 30(2) or Article 62(2), or 2. Repealing the provisions of Article 30(2) or Article 62(2), or 3. For the provisions of Article 30(2) or Article 62(2) or being inconsistent with those provisions, 4. Extending the term of office of the President beyond six years, or extending the duration of Parliament beyond six years, as the case may be, by the provisions of Article 30(2) or Article 62(2) According to point 1 above, amending the provisions of Article 30(2) or Article 62(2) under the "or" ("හෝ") category includes both reducing and increasing the six-year period stipulated in Articles 30(2) and 62(2). That is to say, obtaining the approval of the people through a referendum is required to either reduce the 6 years or increase the 6 years. Paragraph (b) of Article 83 of the Constitution in the English language is as follows: (b) a Bill for the amendment or for the repeal and replacement of or which is inconsistent with the provisions of paragraph (2) of Article 30 or of paragraph (2) of Article 62 which would extend the term of office of the President or the duration of Parliament, as the case may be, to over six years, Accordingly, since it states "amendment or replacement or which is inconsistent ...... which would extend," it indicates that amendments or replacements or inconsistencies are those that strictly increase [the term]. That is to say, amendments, replacements, or inconsistencies that reduce [the term] are not included. That is to say, according to paragraph (b) of Article 83 of the Constitution written in the English language, a referendum is required only when extending the presidential term of office (30.2) or the duration of Parliament (62.2) beyond 6 years, whereas a referendum is not required when reducing it to less than 6 years. Through his letter, the Chairman of the Election Commission informs the Secretary to the President to correct this existing error in the English version of the Constitution. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, presented in the year 2015, amended the presidential and parliamentary terms to 5 years by covertly exploiting this loophole present in Article 83(b) of the English version of the Constitution. According to Articles 9, 49, and 51 of the 1972 Constitution, the 1978 Constitution was enacted in the Sinhala language. The governing/ official language of the 1978 Constitution is the Sinhala language. Accordingly, the reduction of the presidential and parliamentary terms to 5 years through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 2015 was carried out without holding a mandatory referendum as required under Article 83(ආ) of the 1978 Constitution. The constitutional crisis that arises here is that Article 83(ආ) of the Constitution and Articles 30(2) and 62(2) of the Constitution operate in a mutually contradictory and conflicting manner. This amounts to a constitutional fraud carried out by utilizing an invalid copy of the Constitution in the English language, a disenfranchisement of the people's referendum voting rights, a breach of legal professional ethics, and a violation of the oath/affirmation to protect and uphold the Constitution. According to the aforementioned letter sent by the Chairman of the Election Commission to the Secretary to the President—which serves as vital evidence for this legal crisis—if the Supreme Court accepts that there is a discrepancy between Article 83(ආ) of the Constitution and Article 83(b) of the Constitution in the English language, the presidential and parliamentary term will strictly remain 6 years. Furthermore, since the Supreme Court relied on the English version of the Constitution during the enactment of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the establishment of Provincial Councils in 1987, the 13th Amendment and the establishment of Provincial Councils will also become inconsistent with the Constitution. If the Supreme Court accepts the letter from the Election Commission submitted by Attorney-at-Law Mr. Aruna Laksiri against the 22nd Amendment, the presidential and parliamentary term will remain 6 years, and according to the Constitution, it will also be impossible to hold Provincial Council elections again. Whether the Supreme Court accepts or rejects the Election Commission's letter can be read and known by the public through the determination sent by the Supreme Court to the Speaker of Parliament. Dr. Thilaka Padma Subasinghe Memorial Legal Education Programme. (31.08.2026) Translation of the article "22 ට එරෙහිව නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි මහතා ඉදිරිපත් කළ මැතිවරණ කොමිසමේ ලිපිය ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය පිළිගතහොත් ජනාධිපති සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තු කාලය වසර 6 කි...! නැවත පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණත් නෑ...!" http://neethiyalk.blogspot.com/2026/09/22-6.html?m=1