The Elections Commission has sought the Attorney General’s advice on holding polls in 61 undisputed local authorities, a senior official of the Elections Commission told the Sunday Observer yesterday.
The government has received complaints with regard to the boundaries of the electoral wards of 275 local bodies out of a total of 336. The Elections Commission is exploring the possibility of holding elections in the rest of the bodies where there were no issues. The Opposition parties have been lamenting the government was deliberately delaying the elections, fearing defeat.
The President issued a gazette notification with the new
electoral wards after the delimitation report was completed in August this year.
Thereafter, Provincial Councils and Local Government Minister Faiszer Musthapha appointed a committee to look into complaints against the new boundaries.
The committee received complaints against 275 local authorities.
“There are three cases pending before the Supreme Court, seeking a court order to immediately hold the elections. If the Court ruling is given in favour of the petitioners, we may have to hold the elections immediately,” the official said.
The Election Commission has also written to the Provincial Council and Local Government Ministry on the possibility of holding the elections in 61 bodies. Earlier, the Elections Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya told the media that his office needed two months to plan and prepare for the election.
However, when we contacted the Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government, Faiszer Musthafa he said that all sectors are still under review and they are not going ahead with the local government elections. “After the delimitation report is completely reviewed and is in order we will go ahead with the elections.”
According to Minister Musthafa the delimitation report will be available in December.