The Supreme Court in Sri Lanka has granted leave to proceed in a fundamental rights case filed by the head of an election observer group who claims his rights had been violated due to election malpractices and fraud. Dr. Arjuna Parakrama, the co-convenor of the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) petitioned the Supreme Court alleging a violation of his fundamental right of equality and freedom of expression.

The CMEV played a prominent role in monitoring the October 10 parliamentary elections which were  marred by mass scale rigging and malpractices in certain parts of the country. The petitioner claimed that the fundamental right of the people of Sri Lanka including his right of exercising the franchise was violated by the violence and malpractices which occurred during the polls. "The Commissioner of elections was often inconsistent and lacked a rational basis of criteria", the petitioner said.

In his petition he claimed that the people of this country were prevented from exercising their franchise duly, freely and properly, that a free and fair elections were not held, that the will of the people was not properly manifested in the result of the elections.  Parakrama claimed in his petition that the members of parliament were not representative of the desire and the wish of the sovereign people of this country.

Parakrama has cited the Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dissanayake and the general secretaries of recognised political parties and the Attorney General as respondents. Parakrama stated that the Commissioner of Elections was a public officer and his actions and decisions during the elections were inter alia arbitrary and capricious and that he had acted in a haphazard manner in relation to the election results.