An election was held. After the election, it was contended that there had been irregularities in the voting process at various polling places, including ballot stuffing, early closure of polling stations, and intimidation. The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka held that the irregularities would have affected the result of the election and that there therefore should have been a re-poll at those polling stations. It said, “The right to a free, equal and secret ballot is an integral part of the citizen's freedom of expression, when he exercises that freedom through his right to vote . . . That right is an essential part of the freedom of expression recognized by Article 14(1)(a) of the Constitution, especially in view of Sri Lanka's obligations under Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 27(15) of the Constitution . . . The citizen's right to vote includes the right to freely choose his representatives, through a genuine election which guarantees the free expression of the will of the electors: not just his own. Therefore not only is a citizen entitled himself to vote at a free, equal and secret poll, but he also has a right to a genuine election guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the entire electorate to which he belongs." The Court then held that because the respondent had not ensured a fair election process, and subsequently had not annulled the polling at stations with irregularities, the right of the petitioners under the Sri Lankan constitution had been infringed. However, as nearly two years had passed in the interim, the Court held that it would not be feasible to declare the results of the respective polling stations invalid nor to order a re-poll. It did, however, award the petitioners their costs, even though they had not asked for compensation.

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