A discussion was held today (24) between the secretaries of the political parties who gave nominations for this year’s local government elections and the Election Commission. Speaking to the Hiru channel after the discussion, the Chairman of the Election Commission, lawyer Nimal Punchiheva, revealed the hidden reality to the media. He said that he also has no confidence in holding the local election.
After the Election Commission announced that the local elections will be held on March 9th, a case has been filed by a retired army colonel demanding that the decision be annulled. The retired colonel has stated in the petition that spending money for the local election while the country is bankrupt will aggravate the economic crisis.
While court hearing the case,it was inquired from the Ministry of Finance whether money can be spent on election or not . In response to that, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, replied the facts through an affidavit and intimated the inability to spend money for the election.
The Election Commission has calculated that an amount of 10 billion rupees is needed for the election. Today, the Election Commission has asked the Finance Ministry in writing whether that amount can be given or not.
There is no reason for the Election Commission to receive a different answer in the background that the Ministry of Finance has informed the court in writing its inability to spend money for the election.
Meanwhile today, Mujibar Rahman filed a Fundamental Rights Petition making several government officials respondents for the non-conduct of the election. 35 persons have been named as respondents in the petition, including the public administration ministry secretary, the cabinet secretary, the attorney general and the entire cabinet.
It is worth noting although the Election Commission has announced the date of the local government polls, to date relevant gazette has not been printed .Head of the Government Press Gangani Kalpana Liyanage has told the media that the Election Commission has not yet made any request whatsoever to print the relevant gazette.
