Rathna Bandara, Leader of the National Sinhalese Buddhist People’s Party, today filed a writ petition in Court of Appeal urging the court to declare President Mahinda Rajapaksa had intentionally violated the constitution of the country by enacting 18th amendment to the constitution without having a referendum.

The petitioner stated that owing to this reason the president is disqualified to remain in office, and therefore should be removed from his position with immediate effect.

He stated the court should appoint someone to take over the dutie as the President of Sri Lanka. As per the constitution, the petitioner said, the next in line should be the Prime Minister and the speaker respectively. However,the petitioner stated that they too had supported the "illegitimate"18th amendment and are disqualified for the office of President. The next candidate for the post is the opposition leader but he too is disqualified as the opposition leader is pushing for the abolition of Executive Presidency.

Therefore, he suggested that the next suitable person for the post is none other than the petitioner himself as he was the first person to bring this matter to the attention of the country's judiciary.

He further sought a writ of mandatory injunction interim not to accept the nominations on December 8 for the next presidential election.