LG polls put off indefinitely

By Rathindra Kuruwita

The Election Commission (EC) yesterday announced that it had postponed the local government (LG) elections scheduled for 25 April.

The election was initially to be held on 09 March but was postponed to 25 April as the government did not provide funds.

Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake said the government had not provided necessary funds for the elections

Therefore, it was impossible to hold the elections on 25 April, he said.

Ratnayake said he could not say when the elections could be held and that a decision would be taken when the government made funds avaiable for the Supreme Court issued a ruling.

On 20 February , the EC told the Supreme Court that it would not be able to hold the LG polls on 09 March as planned due to the non-availability of funds. This follows an announcement on 17 Feb., that postal voting for the much-anticipated local government election had been postponed indefinitely. The postal voting was scheduled to be held on 22, 23, 24, and 28 of Februay.

In March, the Elections Commission announced that the District Returning officers had issued gazettes to hold the Local Government election on 25 April 2023.