Author: TELO Admin

While stressing that the date for the Local Government (LG) polls remain in the hands of the Treasury, the Election Commission (EC) ruled out yesterday the possibility of holding the election before the Sinhala and Hindu New Year which falls in mid-April.

EC Chairman, Nimal G Punchihewa told Daily Mirror that even if the treasury releases funds for the election immediately based on Friday’s Supreme Court ruling the election has to be held between 5 – 7 weeks from the day of declaration of the polls. Hence, the LG polls have to be held in the second half of April, 2023.

Punchihewa told Daily Mirror last morning that the EC was ready to announce a short date for the LG polls if the Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardene promises to release adequate funds to the EC to conduct polls at the meeting scheduled to be held tomorrow morning at the EC also attended by the IGP, Chandana Wickramaratne and Government Printer Gangani Liyanage.

“I can’t give you an assurance whether the EC could hold the LG polls or if that is the case when. All depends on the availability of enough funds to the EC. If the Treasury takes the responsibility to release sufficient funds at tomorrow’s discussion, we are ready to hold the LG polls on a nearest possible day. The ball is in Treasury’s hands” Punchihewa emphasized.

“However, the Treasury can also tell us that it is more than happy to release funds to the EC but they don’t have enough cash to do so at the moment. They can release funds only in a few months only. But I don’t think this kind of scenario would arise tomorrow at the discussion,” he added.

If the EC failed to obtain a firm pledge from the Treasury immediately for sufficient funding to conduct much delayed LG polls, there will be another legal issue. The highest court in the country has given ruling to the Secretary to the Treasury not to retain funds allocated to the EC from the budget 2023. Therefore, the Treasury is officially and legally bound to release funds to the EC. If not, it will amount to contempt of court. The EC does not want to involve in another legal battle. The petitioners either who obtained this court ruling will need this, Punchihewa stressed.

If the Treasury promises to release funds immediately, the EC will try its best to release the gazette notification indicating the day of the polls through 25 District Returning Officers (DROs) on Wednesday (8) and unless on Thursday.

Commenting on the remarks coming from certain quarters that he did not call the all-important meeting at the week-end, Punchihewa said it was a long week-end and many public servants go out of the city and also they are officially not bound to attend officials meetings.

The Election Commission (EC) is unable to offer relief to more than 3000 public servants contesting the local council elections and who are now in severe financial distress owing to uncertainty over the polls date.

In line with the election law, the employees have taken no-pay leave from their workplaces to contest the upcoming election as candidates. With the EC no longer able to hold the election as scheduled on March 9, many of these candidates are facing a difficult situation as they are prohibited from returning to their jobs given that the election process is ongoing.

The EC could not provide any relief to these candidates given that while the elections could not be held as scheduled on March 9, the electoral process had not stopped, Commission Chairman Nimal Punchihewa told the Sunday Times.

If the Supreme Court had issued an order restraining the EC from conducting the elections, the Commission could recommend to the Public Administration Ministry to submit a Cabinet proposal to pay the basic salaries of these employees. But the Court has not issued any such order and has asked the EC to continue with the elections. Therefore, the Commission could not make such a recommendation, the EC chief said.

A senior Public Administration Ministry official said the ministry could not legally accommodate requests from any state employee contesting the elections to be allowed to return to work until they received official communication from the EC that the election had either been put off or concluded. “Since the electoral process is ongoing, there is nothing anyone can do,” the official said.

The inability to hold the election on March 9 has also posed a headache to the Commission with regard to the ceiling it has imposed on candidates to spend on each voter.

The EC had earlier calculated the maximum amount a candidate could spend over a 49-day campaign period.

Since the EC is now set to announce a new poll date, candidates would ask for the spending limit to be raised given that the campaign period would also be extended, an EC source said.

Meanwhile, the EC will meet Finance Ministry officials and the Government Printer next week to ask them when funds can be released for the elections and when printing work related to the elections can be concluded.

Mr. Punchihewa said once these government agencies explained their position to the EC, the Commission would announce a fresh date for the elections.

The EC chairman expressed confidence that a new date for the poll could be announced before March 9.

Several new Indian airlines are ready to operate flights to Jaffna from new destinations, said Consul General of India in Jaffna Raakesh Nattaj on the sidelines of the 13th Edition of the Jaffna International Trade Fair which began at the Muttraweli Grounds, adjoining the Jaffna Fort.

The event is organised by Lanka Exhibition and Conference Services (Pvt) Ltd (LECS), in association with the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Yarlpanam (CCIY).

It concludes today, March 5.

He said that Alliance Air operates four flights per week to Jaffna from Chennai and all the flights are full. “We wish to promote flights from other destinations in India such as Colombathurai and Bangalore to fly to Jaffna and this is expected mid this year.”

New Indian airlines too have expressed interest in adding Jaffna to their radar. However, only a small 75-seater plane could land in Jaffna.

The Consul General said they are also issuing visas to fly to Jaffna and there is an increase in this segment as well.

An airline cargo service too is expected to be launched.

President Yalpanam Chamber of Commerce, K. Vignesh said the exhibition had been a platform to promote entrepreneurship to the North east soon after the war ended.

He said that the exhibition has also paved the way for SMEs to find new markets as well.

Since the first edition in 2002 JITF has evolved into an annual trade platform.

The event is a multi-trade affair featuring industries, products and services in the Agriculture, Hospitality, Education, Food, Machinery, Construction, Consumer, Electronics, Power, Textile, IT and Real estate sectors.

High Municipal taxes

An official of the Yalpanam Chamber of Commerce lashed out at the Jaffna Municipality and said that though the JITF is the gateway to North and opening new vistas for businessmen in North, the Municipality charges exorbitant taxes when hosting this event for the past three years.

“Each year this amount is increasing and this year the organisers had paid over Rs. 3 million to host this event and this is more than what Colombo Municipality charges.”

JITF is a major event in the MICE event calendar of Sri Lanka. The three-day exhibition provides a major boost to the Hospitality Industry and economy in Jaffna, due to the large number of exhibitors and visitors who travel to the region during the event.

“They even charge other payments from stallholders for displaying their hoardings.”

An official of the Jaffna Municipality said that overheads are increasing and this is the reason for the high taxes.

Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today (4) held wide-ranging talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Ali Sabry focusing on facilitating Sri Lanka’s economic recovery as well boosting bilateral trade.

India extended financial assistance worth around USD 4 billion to Sri Lanka, including lines of credit for purchases of food and fuel, last year when it was reeling under a severe economic crisis.

New Delhi also provided guarantees to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help the country secure a USD 2.9 billion bailout package.

“Nice to catch up FM @alisabrypc of Sri Lanka. Thank him for his #RaisinaDialogue2023 participation”, Jaishankar said on Twitter.

“We took stock of our cooperation that is focused on facilitating Sri Lanka’s economic recovery. Discussions covered investment, trade and development partnership,” he said.

Sabry described the meeting as ”constructive”.

I met with @DrSJaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India at Hyderabad House during my official visit to New Delhi. We had a constructive bilateral meeting and reviewed the current status of Indo-Lanka relations”, he said.

Sabry was in New Delhi to attend the Raisina Dialogue.