My Dear Elections
Commissioner,
I thought I should write to you once again because you seem to be among the most important men who matter these days, second only to Mahinda maama and the General. In fact, it is about this contest between the two of them that I wish to write to you about.
We know Commissioner, that you, like Sanath Jayasuriya- are well past your retirement age but continue to play the game because apparently there is no one else to take your place. We also know that you are not in the best of health and that there is nothing more you would like than to retire and get your pension cheque every month instead of being thrust into the limelight in this manner.
But alas, fate has decreed otherwise and here you are presiding over the next presidential election, whether you like it or not! However, now that you are in the hot seat, you must remember that the country expects you to do your duty properly without fear or favour.
We say so because in the past few weeks, we saw you shouting hoarse about violations of election laws and promising to put an end to it. Sadly, Commissioner, your promises seem to be worse than those of either Mahinda maama or the General!
Why, you promised that cutouts would be removed in forty eight hours. They are still very much a part of our colourful landscape. You promised an end to intimidation and violence but that appears to have become the fashion now.
Then, you promised to appoint a competent authority to monitor the media-and the less said about itthe better! Why, you first issued a set of guidelines for the media to follow and threatened to appoint a competent authority if that was not done.
The guidelines are still in place, no one follows them and now you say that a competent authority will not be appointed!
Then, there were complaints that most internally displaced persons did not have the documentation required to cast their votes.
There were some noises made about it, but I don’t think you were quite successful in convincing them about their voting rights-and that leaves room for others to exploit them and cast their votes on their behalf! Is that what you would like, Commissioner?
And what about the reports of government officers being asked to show their ballot paper before casting their postal votes, Commissioner? We haven’t heard you say anything about this and I suppose you would, like the Police now, say that you ‘haven’t received any official complaint’ and therefore you cannot act.
Then, we believed you could order the Police to do your bidding at election time.
We know that in certain instances you have asked them to, but they choose to ignore your instructions rather than follow them. So, isn’t it time to crack the whip-or if they are blatantly disregarding your orders- to tell the country about it without trying to be very diplomatic and politically correct about it?
Of course, we understand that you cannot be a one man army doing all this by yourself. But surely, you must do what you can to keep your promises or else, you will go down in history as the man who presided over the most undemocratic elections that this country witnessed.
After an extended run in the public service, you don’t want that to be your legacy, would you?
You will no doubt argue that under the existing rules and regulations, your hands are tied. I am sure they are but you would do well to get some advice from the ‘other’ Sarath, who took the law into his own hands on many occasions to do what he thought was right-and everyone agrees that some of those actions benefited the country enormously.
It is still not too late, Commissioner. We say so because much can happen on Election Day itself. At least then, if you can act efficiently and impartially and ensure a free and fair election, you would have done your duty by the nation and the country, and sure we shall be grateful to you for that.
Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS-I think I know who you would vote for. You want to retire and for that the independent elections commission has to be appointed. Only one candidate has promised that, so you would be voting for him, wouldn’t you, Commissioner? |
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