News
NPC polls in first week of September
View(s):Basil says Govt. keen to “have the election and finish it off”
By Namini Wijedasa
President Mahinda Rajapaksa will direct the Elections Commissioner to conduct the Northern Provincial Council election in the first week of September, the Sunday Times learns. Although authoritative Government sources declined to name a date, such polls are usually held on Saturdays.
Meanwhile, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who is the also the ruling SLFP’s Chief Organiser, said the Government was keen to “have the election and finish it off”.
He said that contrary to opinion in some quarters, it was not necessary for President Rajapaksa to issue a gazette notification on the Northern Provincial Council because the council already existed. It only needed to be constituted through the holding of elections.
A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake had clearly stated in its determination on the Divineguma Bill that the Northern Provincial Council, while established, was yet to be constituted, Mr. Rajapaksa pointed out.
The Supreme Court ruled that the Divineguma Bill must be passed by a special majority since views could not be obtained from the Northern Provincial Council “due to it not being constituted”. Therefore, the President could write to the Elections Commissioner asking him to conduct elections to constitute the Northern Provincial Council.
Some of the Government’s coalition partners have expressed opposition to the polls. Minister Rajapaksa said he, too, was personally against holding the elections in September because resettlement was not yet complete. He also said the voters list did not represent a true demographic picture of the North. This was because there had been no provision to include people who had relocated at the time of enumeration.
“In the case of earlier lists, even people who were displaced and not living in the North could have their name included in the Northern Province electoral register,” Minister Rajapaksa said. “But this time, the names of such people have been knocked off. This has affected mostly Muslim and Sinhalese voters.”
Follow @timesonlinelk
comments powered by Disqus