By Saman Indrajith

The election deposit that must be submitted by an independent candidate to contest an election had remained the same since 1981 while no deposits were required for recognised political parties, Parliament was told on Wednesday (23). 

Opening the adjournment debate on the performance report of the Election Commission, SLPP National List MP Sagara Kariyawasam told Parliament that independent candidates had been required to deposit just Rs. 2,000 when contesting an election since 1981 while recognised political parties did not have to make any deposit. “We need to increase the amount to be deposited by a candidate,” Kariyawasam insisted. 

MP Kariyawasam thanked the Election Commission and its staff for having conducted the 2020 parliamentary election in a free and fair manner and in a peaceful atmosphere. “In addition, the election was held in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures were adopted to ensure that the election did not result in the spread of the disease within the country is laudable.”

Nevertheless, he noted that the gazetting of the candidates’ preferential vote numbers had been delayed due to disagreements among the three members of the Election Commission. “The Commission has three members and the quorum for a meeting is also three. As such, it is clear that increasing the number of members of the commission to five is sensible.”

Kariyawasam stressed that due to the severe restrictions imposed on election propaganda, only candidates who had enough financial resources could advertise on electronic and print media. 

MP Kariyawasam also pointed out that many of those engaged in essential services continued to be disenfranchised as they were required to remain at work on election days. “As per current election laws, even those in the health sector such as doctors and nurses, employees working on expressways, staff of aviation services and those in the hotel industry are not entitled to postal voting. As such, it would be better to introduce advance voting for such persons on a day closer to the polling day at their places of work.”

The MP, however, pointed out that a large amount of funds was needed to carry out advance voting, which was one reason why the deposit money should be increased. 

He said that given the massive workforce and effort that is needed to hold an election, it was time to explore the possibility of launching a pilot project on introducing electronic voting. 

The Government Printer, Department of Posts, police and Government employees were yet to be paid for work they had done during the elections, Kariyawasam said.

Kariyawasam drew the attention of Parliament to a large number of rejected votes.