---
title: "Judge dismisses NDP challenge to Green candidate in Vancouver-Yaletown"
description: "A BC Supreme Court judge dismissed a petition filed by the BC NDP on October 13 that sought to remove Green Party candidate Priyan Samarakoone from the Vancouver-Yaletown ballot. Elections BC says there have been no changes to the candidates in the riding."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/bc/provincial-2026/news/bc-ndp-challenge-green-candidate-yaletown-dismissed-2026"
last_updated: "2026-10-17T18:42:34.840Z"
---

A BC Supreme Court judge dismissed a petition on October 13, 2026, that the BC NDP had filed seeking to remove [Priyan Samarakoone](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/priyan-samarakoone) from the Vancouver-Yaletown ballot as the BC Green Party candidate. The Vancouver Sun reported the judge dismissed the petition within 10 minutes of the hearing's start, and Elections BC confirmed that no changes have been made to the candidates in the riding.

## Why the petition was dismissed

The judge dismissed the petition because it was filed with insufficient notice to the parties under BC's Evidence Act, according to an NDP spokesman quoted by the Vancouver Sun. The spokesman said this was the judge's interpretation, and that "nobody argued that" point during the hearing.

The NDP told the Vancouver Sun: "The court's decision in the application is final and cannot be appealed. Unfortunately, there are no additional steps that can be taken before election day to address these issues." The judge did not make any ruling on the substance of the nomination allegations.

## What the petition alleged

The petition, filed by Ryan Crowley, identified in the article as a constituent assistant, sought a court order that Samarakoone "is not a candidate in the 2026 provincial general election." The petition also named [Sam Chandola](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/sam-chandola), the CentreBC candidate in the same riding.

The petition alleged that eight nominators who signed Samarakoone's papers also signed Chandola's nomination papers, with different signatures on each set. It also alleged one person signed Samarakoone's papers twice and Chandola's once, producing three different signatures across the three signings.

The petition stated that only 14 of Samarakoone's nominators were voters in the riding when the nomination was made, and that 24 nominator addresses were not residential. Of those 24, the petition said 17 were connected to businesses with no residential units and 7 were addresses that do not exist.

Under the Election Act, Elections BC requires a nomination to be made by 75 qualified nominators who are voters in the electoral district and who have not been a nominator for more than one candidate, according to the Vancouver Sun's report of the petition. These are the allegations in the petition. No court has ruled on whether they are accurate.

## Elections BC's position

Elections BC told the Vancouver Sun that it was aware of the nomination challenge, that the matter was in the jurisdiction of the court, and that "there have been no changes to the candidates" in Vancouver-Yaletown. This means both Samarakoone and Chandola remain on the ballot.

Advance voting in the BC provincial election opens October 16 and runs to October 21. Voting day is October 24. Candidates for Vancouver-Yaletown are listed on this site at [/bc/provincial-2026/races/mla/vancouver-yaletown](/bc/provincial-2026/races/mla/vancouver-yaletown).

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/bc/provincial-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.