Category: News

A total of 21,160 postal voting applications have been rejected out of the total applications submitted for 2024 General Election, according to the Election Commission.

The chairman of the Election Commision, R.M.A.L. Rathnayake stated that a total of 759,210 postal voting applications were received for the upcoming general election.

“The process of accepting postal voting applications has now been completed. Out of the 759,210 applications submitted, 738,050 have been accepted. This marks an increase of 25,731 postal votes compared to the recent presidential election,” Rathnayake explained.

He further mentioned that the delivery of ballot papers for postal voting will begin on October 23. Additionally, the official ballot papers are scheduled for release on October 26.

“Arrangements have also been made to allocate airtime for the candidates tomorrow at the auditorium of the Colombo District Secretariat. Authorized representatives of all political parties and independent groups have been informed about the event,” he added.

Claiming that those who were in a state of coma for the last five years about the Easter Sunday attacks had now started to question the reports of the Presidential Commission, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday those reports were not secret reports and that some people were perturbed after the government initiated a proper investigation into the Easter attacks.

Speaking at an election rally in Katunayake, the President said he was informed by the former secretary to the President that the two reports of the Presidential Commissions which probed the Easter attacks had been submitted to the Attorney General, Defence Secretary, Secretary to the Public Security Ministry and the Secretary of the Archdiocese of Colombo adding that they are not secret reports.

The President said those committees were not investigative committees and added that former President Ranil Wickremesinghe formed some committees to suppress the investigations.

“Both these committees were set up by Ranil Wickremesinghe. These are not investigative committees. One committee was appointed to probe the report of the Channel-4 video on the Easter attack and the second committee was formed to investigate whether the security forces had any connection with the attacks. Ranil Wickremesinghe formed some of these committees to suppress the investigations,” he said.

He said the new government instructed the IGP and the CID to launch a fresh investigation into the Easter attacks and added that a certain person had woken up from a state of coma and started to question the Presidential commission reports.

“Those who were in a state of coma woke up when the government commenced a proper investigation. They are scared of a proper investigation. They want to sabotage this. The person who talks of commission reports does not want to find the real perpetrators. His real intention is to hide the real perpetrators. He has undertaken their contract. We will not get caught by such moves. We will conduct a proper investigation and reveal the truth to the people. He wants to prevent a proper investigation. We have no one to hide or protect,” he said.

The Indian Government last week intervened to prevent the Sri Lankan Government from defaulting on a payment of over $ 1 billion due this coming week under a swap agreement by granting an extension, The Sunday Morning learns.

A sum of over $ 1.7 billion is due and pending this coming week.

This pending amount is a Special Swap Arrangement under the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) mechanism of approximately $ 2.6 billion.

However, it is learnt that after taking into account the nascent economic recovery and the upcoming discussions the new Government of Sri Lanka is initiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India has proactively extended the swap arrangement to support Sri Lanka’s economic stabilisation process.

A highly-placed source told The Sunday Morning that the swap had been extended by India even without the Sri Lankan Government having to engage with the Indian Government and had been done at a diplomatic level.

The source further noted that the Indian side had unofficially communicated the decision to roll over the pending payment to the Sri Lankan Government and that the official communication on the matter would be sent in due course.

When asked until when the extension had been granted to Sri Lanka for payment, the source noted that it would be known in the official communication that was due from New Delhi.

According to the IMF staff report, Sri Lanka’s arrears to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the ACU and penalty interest have been converted into a $ 2.2 billion swap.

The ACU arrears have been combined with another $ 400 million swap given by the RBI to Sri Lanka under a SAARC agreement.

The total $ 2.6 billion is to be settled between the period of 2023-2026.

In the week leading up to the Presidential Election last month, Sri Lanka had reportedly repaid $ 400 million to India, along with an additional $ 200 million towards the debt owed to the ACU.

The section from Mahawa to Anuradhapura on the Northern railway line will not reopen as scheduled.

This section has been closed for renovations since January.

Locomotive drivers have raised safety concerns due to the absence of secure level crossings between the Eppawala and Dahaiyagama stations.

As a result, the Yal Devi train, which operates from Colombo, will only travel as far as Mahawa for now.

Renovation work on the Northern Railway line is being funded through Indian loan assistance.

The Commissioner General of Elections, Saman Sri Ratnayake, has announced that no new nominations will be called for the upcoming local government elections.

He clarified that the election will proceed based on the nominations that were previously submitted.

Speaking at a news conference held in Kandy, Ratnayake further noted that any party who feels this decision has caused them injustice has the option of seeking legal recourse through the courts.