Poll delay: EC wants Treasury Secretary to be questioned by Parliament

The Election Commission (EC) is hopeful that the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance will be summoned before party leaders today and questioned on why funds allocated for the local government election are not being released, an authoritative EC source said. 

Leaders and representatives of several opposition parties led by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa met Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena yesterday and urged him to summon the Treasury Secretary before Parliament and question him on why funds allocated in Budget 2023 to hold the local government election were not being released to the EC. 

The opposition parties have urged the Speaker to allow a motion to be submitted to Parliament calling for the Budgetary allocations made to hold elections to be released. The parties are hopeful that the matter can be put to a vote. 

The EC has already written to the Speaker explaining the measures it has taken so far to hold the election and how its efforts have been obstructed due to the Treasury's refusal to release the funds it requires. The Commission has accordingly asked the Speaker to intervene to have the funds released given that Parliament is the authority on public finance. 

The EC source pointed out that the Commission would be meeting on March 3 to decide on a fresh date for the election as it can no longer hold the election as scheduled on March 9. As such, the EC would ideally need an answer by then on when the Treasury can release funds for the election. "The Treasury Secretary must explain to Parliament why funds allocated to the EC in the Budget are not being released. If the funds are not available, then he must say when they will be able to release the funds," the source stressed. 

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Committee on Parliamentary Business will be held this afternoon to discuss Parliamentary proceedings for the first sitting week of March. Opposition parties are hoping that measures that Parliament can take to address the delay in the local government election can be taken up at this meeting.