The Attorney General has said that he will not appear on behalf of the respondent Election Commission and Chairman in the petition against holding the Local Government Election.
President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris informed the Supreme Court yesterday (13) that the Attorney General will not appear on behalf of the respondent Election Commission and its Chairman in the petition filed requesting to issue a writ restraining the Election Commission from holding the Local Government Election, at a time when the country is facing a major economic crisis, the people will have to face more economic and social pressure by spending a lot of money to hold an election.
The President’s Counsel said that the Election Commission has taken all the necessary legal steps to hold the election by now.
Counsel Saliya Peiris stated this while appearing for the Election Commission when the writ petition filed by retired Colonel W. M. R. Wijesundera and several intervening parties had filed petitions against it were taken up for hearing.
The petition was taken up for hearing before the Supreme Court bench of judges consisting of Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, and Thurairaja and Janak de Silva.
Attorney-at-Law Sujeevan Hendavitharana was supposed to appear for the petitioner but his junior Sudesh Madanayake asked the bench to call the petition on another day as he did not come to the court due to medical reasons.
Lawyers including the President’s Counsels who appeared on behalf of the respondent party and the intervening petitioners’ parties pointed out that a petition filed requesting immediate action to hold the local government election is scheduled to be called before the court on the 18th, and as a result they requested the court to call this petition on that day as well.
As Jeevan Thyagaraja, who is named as a respondent in this petition, is not a member of the Election Commission, Attorney Sudesh Madanayake asked court to grant permission to amend the petition. The bench, which gave permission for that, ordered this petition and the petitions of the intervening parties to be taken up for hearing on the 18th of this month. Chairman of the Election Commission Nimal G. Punchihewa and the members of that commission, the Prime Minister, the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, the Cabinet Secretary
and the Attorney General have been named as respondents in this petition.
It is mentioned in the petition that the election commission has said that about Rs.10 billion will have to be spent on conducting the election. The petitioner has said that he checked whether
the money has been allocated and he came to know that the money has to be granted from state revenue or by borrowing. The petitioner who has pointed out that the country is currently facing
a major economic crisis also mentions that a number of conditions have been imposed by the International Monetary Fund as well.
The petition has submitted facts that state that the people will have to face more economic and social pressure due to spending such a large amount of money at a time when the country is facing a major economic crisis. It is also stated in the petition that if such a mandatory expenditure is made, the people of this country will have to face the gas, electricity and fuel crises that they faced in the past and inflation will rise again.
At the same time, according to international credit ratings, the country is at a low level, he has said. Also, the petitioner points out that due to the current financial crisis, it is impossible to borrow bilaterally and multilaterally, and warns that if money has to be printed in order to hold the election, inflation will rise again as a definite result.
It is stated further in the petition that the focus is currently on carrying out many electoral reforms including changing the percentage representation of women and youth, transparency of candidates, financial control of them and political parties.
Therefore, the petition has requested that a writ be issued restraining the respondents including the Election Commission from taking the necessary steps to conduct the Local Government elections.
The petitioner has also requested court to issue an order suspending the decision taken by the Election Commission to hold the Local Government elections.
After filing this petition, the executive committee member of the National People’s Force, Attorney Sunil Watagala, and the national organizer of the Socialist Youth Association, Rohitha Eranga Gunasekara, and the senior lecturer of the Colombo University Law Faculty, Dr.Visakesa Chandrasekaram, the PAFFEREL organization and a group of people have submitted several intervening party petitions were.These petitions are seeking the dismissal of the writ petition.
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