Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Kandy District MP Attorney Wasantha Yapabandara lodged a complaint yesterday (12) against election law violations allegedly carried out by Cabinet Ministers and Parliamentarians representing the Government during campaigns for the upcoming Local Government (LG) elections within the Kandy District.
Speaking to the media after handing over his complaint to the Kandy District Secretariat Office, Yapabandara claimed that the State-owned Malabar House in Kandy, which had been temporarily handed to Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella, had been used for an election campaign meeting recently, which is in violation of election laws.
He said: “With the visuals and other information we had of this meeting, we complained to the Deputy Election Commissioner of the Kandy District Elections office over the phone. We asked that the Government be forced to conduct this election in a fair and just manner. But we have heard that this complaint has not been taken.”
He further claimed that the Chairmen of Pradeshiya Sabha who attended the meeting arrived in State vehicles, and added: “Were these vehicles given to you for election campaigns? We strongly oppose the violation of election laws. Government Parliamentarians and Cabinet Ministers are completely working in violation of election laws. So, we informl Election Commission Chairman Nimal G. Punchihewa that it is your responsibility to ensure that elections laws are not violated in the Kandy District.”
Meanwhile, against a backdrop of the Election Commission having received nearly 20 complaints on incidents of interference, Punchihewa stated that special attention has been drawn to obstacles of the upcoming LG election.
This was highlighted during a discussion held among district commissioners, assistant commissioners, and representatives of the Election Commission last Saturday (11).
The Commission also noted that such interferences have come from political authority as well as some other organisations.
Polls monitors, late last month (January), pointed out that among the cases relating to election law violations reported during the LG election campaigning period so far, the majority were in relation to the misuse of State property by the Ruling Party, the SLPP.
However, reacting to these allegations, SLPP General Secretary, Attorney ,and MP Sagara Kariyawasam stated last week that such allegations were baseless and malicious, and noted that if there are such complaints, the same should be notified to the nearest election office.