COLOMBO: Supporters of Sri Lanka’s fired prime minister and a top election official on Monday challenged in court the presid­ent’s sacking of parliament, upping the ante in a political crisis that has sparked international alarm.

President Maithripala Sirisena late on Friday called snap elections and dissolved the legislature, two weeks after sacking the prime minister and installing the divisive Mahinda Rajapakse in his place.

The United States has led a chorus of international concern over events in the strategically important Indian Ocean island nation of 21 million people.

Three political parties holding an absolute majority in parliament and Ratnajeevan Hoole, an election commissioner and one of three officials tasked with conducting polls, on Monday asked the Supreme Court to declare the president’s actions illegal.

The court, which heard preliminary submissions, has adjourned until Tues­day. In the five-page petition, Hoole said Sirisena broke the law in calling the snap elections for January 5 after a string of unconstitutional moves since Oct 26 when he fired Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime minister.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2018