The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) filed a writ and a fundamental rights applications challenging the Election Commission's alleged failure and inaction in respect of proceeding with the nomination list submitted by the National People’s Power (NPP) for the 2025 Local Authorities Election for the Kesbewa Urban Council.

The SJB alleged in their petition, filed through candidate Tenil Rathnasiri, that a female candidate whose nomination had been accepted was disqualified in terms of the law as she was an employee of the Kesbewa Urban Council during the relevant period one year prior to the nominations. The petitioner said therefore, the nomination list of the NPP as a whole did not meet the mandatory male/female ratio. Accordingly, the petition alleges that the NPP nomination list is a nullity and that proceeding any further with such a nomination list was a violation of fundamental rights.

On April 4, 2025, the Supreme Court dismissed all other writ and fundamental rights petitions concerning Local Government election nomination rejections for several local authorities. However, the SJB petition was fixed for support on April 28, 2025. The Court further issued instructions for notice to be served, within one week, on all relevant parties, including the Elections Commission.

President’s Counsel Eraj De Silva, with Attorneys-at-Law Janagan Sundramoorthy, N.K. Ashokbaran, and Sanjana Mapatuna, instructed by Dimuthu Kuruppuarachchi, appeared on behalf of the petitioner in both applications.

The petitioner is the chief candidate of the SJB for the Kesbewa Urban Council in the 2025 local government elections.

Due to lower electricity usage during the holiday season, some changes were made on how power is generated in the country, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) said.

The Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre of the Department of Meteorology has issued a "Warm Weather Advisory – Extreme Caution Level" for over 20 districts across the country.

Postmaster General Ruwan Sathkumara says that the official polling cards for the upcoming local government elections are scheduled to be delivered to the Department of Post today (April 16). He stated that April 20 has been designated as a special day for the distribution of official polling cards to households.

While highlighting that the US Reciprocal taxes had created a fresh economic crisis as Sri Lanka will have to find ways and means to settle its debts by 2028, former President Ranil Wickremesinghe said the government should come out with a plan to face the situation.

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) requests rooftop solar power system owners to temporarily disconnect their systems from today but only if they receive an official SMS notification from the board and also only till 3p.m on the specified day.

The National Election Commission has announced a delay in postal voting for 18 Local Government bodies, including the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC).

A total of 412 patients have been admitted to the Colombo National Hospital during the two-day New Year holiday period from April 13 and 14, due to accidents.

The Election Commission (EC) has requested secretaries and authorised representatives of political parties, as well as leaders of independent groups, to submit copies of any petitions and court judgments to the relevant District Election Offices.

Four suspects have been arrested at the Katunayake Airport for attempting to smuggle in stocks of Kush cannabis and Hashish to Sri Lanka.