News
Ballot paper printing halted; postal voting may be postponed

BY PRIYAN DE SILVA and
Rathindra Kuruwita
Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Rathnayake said that the postal voting for the local authorities elections scheduled for the 22, 23 and 24 February might have to be postponed as the Election Commission (EC) was unable to dispatch polling cards and other documents, to the 1116 polling centres, across the country.
The polling cards were to be dispatched today (15) but the Department of Government Printing had failed to deliver the polling cards.
The Commissioner General of Elections told The Island that when he met the Government Printer, Gangani Liyanage, on Friday (10), she had confirmed that the printing was underway and assured him that the ballot papers for the postal vote would be ready by 12 noon on Tuesday (14).
But for some reason, Liyanage had reneged on her assurance and requested in writing the settlement of the full estimated cost of printing (Rs. 401,594,852.56).
She had cited, as the reason for the delay, President Ranil Wickremasinghe’s order on January 31st, as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies to curtail government expenditure with a warning to public officials that they would be personally held responsible for whatever goods and services they obtained on credit.
The Government Printer submitted an estimate (REV/AGP/03/02/03/2023) for Rs. 401,594,852.56 in early January 2023, more than a week after the President’s order. The printer has requested a 50% advance which could be paid in tranches. The quotation also states that the Department of Government Printing is going ahead with the work with the raw material which was in stock.
Rathnayaka said that the usual procedure was for the Treasury to release funds from time to time and confirmed that the Treasury had released a partial payment of approximately Rs. 40mn to the Department of Government Printing, initially.
Our attempts to contact the Government Printer on Tuesday (14) proved futile.
Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Studies and Electoral Reforms (IRES), Manjula Gajanayake has warned that the order by the President to curtail government expenditure is a sinister ploy to disrupt the LG poll.
When contacted by The Island yesterday, Gajanayake reiterated that if any public official refuses, or failed without a reasonable cause to comply with the Commission, he or she would commit an offence under Article 104GG of the Constitution and said it was imperative that legal action be instituted against such officials as a warning to others
104GG (1) states: Any public officer, any employee of any public corporation, business or other undertaking vested in the Government under any other written law and any company registered or deemed to be registered under the Companies Act, No. 7 of 2007, in which the Government or any public corporation or local authority holds fifty per cent or more of the shares of that company, who – a) refuses or fails without a reasonable cause to cooperate with the Commission, to secure the enforcement of any law relating to the holding of an election or the conduct of a Referendum; or (b) fails without a reasonable cause to comply with any directions or guidelines issued by the Commission under sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (4) or sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (5), respectively, of Article 104B, shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand rupees or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both such fine and imprisonment.
Latest News
Accepting deposits for Local Authorities Election concludes

Accepting deposits from political parties and independent groups who intend to contest the forthcoming Local Authorities Election ended at 12noon today [19].
Deposits were accepted at respective District Secretariats from 3rd March 2025.
The Elections Commission has announced that the deadline for the accepting of nominations for the LA poll is set to conclude at 12:00 noon tomorrow (20).
Latest News
Former IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon has appeared before the Matara Magistrate’s Court

It has been reported that the former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon has appeared before the Matara Magistrate’s Court this morning (19),
The former IGP had been evading arrest after the Matara Magistrate’s court had ordered his arrest regarding a shooting incident that took place in front of the W15 Hotel Pelena, Weligama, Matara, in 2023.
News
Ex-Minister ordered to pay loan interest in arrears for 24 yrs

The government has begun recovering funds obtained by former Lands and Land Development, Environment and Wildlife Resources Minister SM Chandrasena for the Janatha Lanka Chilli Marketing Limited (JLCML), which he headed, Parliament was informed yesterday.
Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation Minister Namal Karunaratne said that as the Chairman of JLCML, Chandrasena had obtained a loan of Rs. 1,275,000 from the Mihintale Govijana Seva Bank in 2001.
The principal of the loan had not been repaid until the end of last year. “After we came to power, we demanded that the loan be settled. Then, we discovered that the interest on the loan had not been paid for the past 24 years, and attempts had been made to have the loan written off. We stopped that and are now in the process of recovering the interest of Rs. 1,975,233 on the loan,” Karunaratne said.
Karunaratne added that JLCML was registered as a company with the Registrar of Companies on March 21, 2001. As Chairman of the company, Chandrasena requested a loan of Rs. 10 million on April 19, 2001, for the purpose of purchasing chillies from farmers in 12 farmer colonies in the Mihintale Agrarian Service area.
The request was approved by the Mihintale Agrarian Service Committee on the same day and referred to the Anuradhapura District Agrarian Operations Committee, which approved it on April 23, 2001. However, the Agriculture Development Commissioner General recommended that a loan of Rs. 1.2 million would suffice for this purpose. JLCML took the loan and failed to repay it until the end of last year. When the matter was raised, the principal was paid, and we are now in the process of recovering the interest that was not paid for the past 24 years,” Karunaratne added.
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