Sajith Premadasa’s Nomination Submission for the Presidential Election

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Recent claims falsely allege that Sajith Premadasa had submitted his nomination papers from the back of the registration table when the usual practice is to submit the required documents related to nomination papers in front of the Election Commission. Let's look at the claim first.

Social Media Posts

Social media posts are spreading the claim that opposition leader Sajith Premadasa submitted his nomination papers for the presidential election on August 15 from the backside of the registration table while other candidates submitted theirs in the usual way.

These claims were viral among social media circles.

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Explanation

Upon reviewing the available video footage of the nomination process on August 15, the sequence of events is as follows:

Initial Submission: Sajith Premadasa, who arrived behind President Ranil Wickremesinghe around the same time to hand over the nomination papers, moves towards the backside of the registration table to submit his documents, as the President and his team occupied the front.

Final Submission: After submitting his documents, the opposition leader moved to the front of the registration table of Election Commission members and waited for Mr Wickremasinghe to finalize his submission. Once President Wickremesinghe completed his submission, Sajith Premadasa moved to the front side of the registration table and proceeded to complete the submission procedures like all the other candidates.

Document Finalization: When the Election Commission finalized and signed Premadasa’s nomination papers, he was clearly positioned at the front side of the table.

The submission times for President Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa have drawn attention, with Wickremesinghe's submission noted at 9:50 am and Premadasa's at 9:51 am. In Sri Lanka, where auspicious times hold cultural significance, the exact timing of such events is often closely observed.

However, it's important to clarify that the Election Commission does not specify exact times for nomination submissions. Candidates are free to submit their nominations at any chosen time within the designated timeframe. In the case of the 2024 presidential election, the Election Commission allocated a 2-hour window (9 a.m. to 11 a.m.) on August 15th for the election nominations to be submitted.

We also noticed that many comparisons were made to Sajith Premadasa, handing over of nominations to that of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, related to the 2015 presidential election. We investigated the footage pertaining to the 2014 handing over of nominations, and noticed that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had indeed submitted presidential election nominations from the backside of the table. However, unlike in the case of Sajith, no one was at the front of the table when Mahinda Rajapaksa decided to go from the backside and directly hand over the nomination papers to the Election Commissioner. The footage from 2014 is seen here.

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