Will TNA run into legal snags in registration?
July 3, 2010 04:07 pm
A London radio station had report that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has been registered as a political party by the Elections Commissioner (EC) of Sri Lanka. However sources point out that the TNA had only handed in its application to the Commissioner and it has not been registered as yet.
However, these same sources say that the TNA may run into several legal snags in having its application accepted by the EC.
The TNA, since its inception has been a party only for name sake and it had contested the elections under the Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchchi (ITAK) with the symbol as the ‘house’.
When the TNA comprising several Tamil political parties was formed, some had shown reservations against R. Sampanthan being appointed as its General Secretary, fearing that Sampanthan and others supporting him would have the upper hand in decision making, sources say.
R. Sampanthan was former General Secretary of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF).
To avoid splits and misunderstandings Sampanthan had been appointed as the leader while three persons, Selvan Adaikalanathan, Suresh Premachandran and Mavai Senathirajah had been appointed as (Joint) General Secretaries of the TNA.
The possible legal problem would arise over this issue, sources say. According to elections law, a person holding the post of General Secretary in one political party cannot hold the same post in another party. Meanwhile, more than one person can not be appointed to the same post of General Secretary.
This second clause, if applicable, could prevent the Elections Commissioner from accepting the application by the TNA as a political party as more than one person may have signed the application for its registration.
Further, Senathirajah is the General Secretary of the ITAK and Premachandran is the General Secretary of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Left Front (EPRLF), say political sources.
A veteran politician and experienced lawyer Rajavarothiam Sampanthan could not be unaware of these legal implications. Furthermore, another member named Subanthiran who had been named in the National List to parliament due to his legal expertise had been responsible for the drawing up of the application and would have know of the snags, sources say.
Adaderana made several attempts to contact the TNA leadership to confirm details about the application but was unsuccessful.