Many have tweeted that Rosie Senanayake should have been a must in the new parliament, as she is a proponent of children’s and women’s rights as well as women’s representation in politics.

Despite the UNP’s big win from Colombo, she failed to make it to parliament.

Another candidate whose defeat has led to much worry is JVP’s Sunil Handunnetti, a strong opponent of corruption and fraud.

Samantha Vidyaratne, Wasantha Samarasinghe and K.D. Lalkantha, also of the JVP, too, could have added new strength to the new parliament, according to social media.

Mahinda Samarasinghe, who confronted war crimes allegations against the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime before the UN, too, was defeated.

From national list?

Social media’s view is that persons such as Senanayake and Handunnetti should at least be appointed on the national list.

The Sri Lankan parliament has examples of persons appointed without their names being in national lists.

However, the elections commissioner has said that he could not accept anyone other than those in national lists, but that he could consider the names of defeated candidates only.

Reliable sources say prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has decided not to appoint defeated candidates.