Rajapaksa`s brother to contest Lankan Parliamentary Election

Basil Rajapaksa, the powerful adviser to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother, on Friday signed his nomination papers to contest the April 8 Parliamentary Election.

Colombo: Basil Rajapaksa, the powerful adviser to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother, on Friday signed his nomination papers to contest the April 8 Parliamentary Election.
Basil filed his nomination papers from Gampaha district in the Western Province.

He will contest from the ruling United People`s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) coalition ticket.

Basil was sent to India in December last year as a part of a three member high level delegation to discuss the rehabilitation process in Northern Sri Lanka.

Besides Basil, the team comprised of Secretary to the President, Lalith Weeratunga, and Defence Secretary (and another brother of the President) Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

The team had assured New Delhi that the Rajapaksa Government was committed to resettling all internally displaced persons (IDPs) of Tamil origin speedily. Meanwhile, the nominations for the General Election are being accepted from today and will continue till the 26th of this month.

As many as 225 Members of Parliament will be elected in the General Election.

Out of this total, 196 will be voted while the remaining 29 will be appointed from the National List under the representation system.

The Election Secretariat said that nine independent groups had placed their deposits up to February 16.

PTI

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