Fix early date for LG polls without allowing govt. to conspire to postpone it further: NPP

The Elections Commission must fix an early date for the Local Government election so that the government could not use another ploy to postpone the election, JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said today.

He told a news conference that the government would not give up its attempt to postpone the LG polls even after the Supreme Court ruling and said the only option to prevent the government from using another ploy to postpone the election is to fix a date as early as possible.

"If the election was not scheduled on an early date, the government has ample time to conspire to postpone it by bringing in a Bill in parliament to that effect. It is upto the Elections Commission to prevent such a move," he said.

He said if the Election was fixed on a later date, the expenses that the Elections Commission and candidates contesting the election have to bear will be much higher and added that if the Elections Commission was to minimize the expenses for the election, an early date should be announced.

Silva also said if a later date was fixed for the elections, the candidates contesting the election may have to face another issue with regard to their expenses on the election campaign due to the new Act passed in Parliament recently limiting the amount of funds that can be spent on the election campaign.

He said the state employees who are contesting the election will also have to face a serious issue if the election was further postponed as they are on no-pay leave and they will have serious financial issues to make the living. (Ajith Siriwardana)