A seven-member apex court bench said that the President cannot dissolve Parliament till it completes its a four-and-half-year term

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled that the dissolution of Parliament by Maithripala Sirisena was "unconstitutional", in a major setback to the embattled President, whose controversial decisions plunged the island nation into an unprecedented constitutional crisis. However, the apex court Judge Sisira de Abrew rejected that decision and said, “President can’t dissolve parliament before four-and-half years.”

The court verdict means parliament elections will be held as scheduled after February 2020 and raises the possibility of Wickremesinghe reinstated as prime minister since his coalition enjoys a majority in parliament. The decision has laid to rest one of the many controversial moves which had complicated the political and constitutional crisis emanating from President Sirisena’s decision on October 26 to sack the incumbent prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, and install former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place. On November 9, Sirisena dissolved parliament and called a general election for January 5 days after sacking Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and naming opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa to the post. The petitions have been filed by political parties including United National Party (UNP), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) and the All Ceylon People’s Congress.Organisations and activists such as the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), Attorney Aruna Laksiri and also a member of Elections Commission Prof. S. R. H. Hoole have also filed petitions.The Supreme Court on November 13 had issued an interim order ruling Sirisena’s gazette notification as temporarily illegal and halted the preparations for snap polls.
A seven-bench Supreme Court unanimously rules that President Sirisena's dissolution of Parliament on 9 November 2018 was unconstitutional.