Colombo: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has issued a special gazette notice, dissolving the Parliament and declaring parliamentary elections to be held on April 25.

In the special gazette released by the Presidential Secretariat on Monday, Rajapaksa dissolved the Parliament from Monday midnight and summoned a new parliament to meet on May 14, Xinhua reported.

The gazette also said that the nomination period for the upcoming elections will be held between March 12 and March 19, where nominees can file their nomination papers to election officers.

Sri Lanka's Parliament is being dissolved after four and a half years, which is the legal limit, paving the way for polls to elect 225 members in the House.