Rushing through...

Rushing through it may trigger unstable polls result: JO

Joint Opposition MP Dinesh Gunawardane yesterday asked parliament whether all the 50 amendments brought to the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill had been approved by the Attorney General saying that an unstable election result would be generated by the amendments.

He said all the 50 amendments should be discussed during the committee stage meeting before passing the Bill. He said MPS received the amendments only last morning and added that they should have been given to the MPS earlier. “This is a historical incident. This sort of thing has never happened. If there were amendments to be made, they should have been submitted in advance,” he said. Referring to JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissabayake’ s address in which he commended bringing in the Bill, Mr. Gunawardane said the JVP may know about the 50 amendments as they discussed them with the government.

“I do not agree with the JVP leader. They discussed the amendments with the government and they know it. But the MPS only received the amendments this morning,” he said.

He said the JO had no issue in voting for the Bill whatever it was as they wanted the elections soon. “We want to hold the elections soon. We may lose or win but hold it immediately. We are ready to vote for the Bill tomorrow or next week. But we need to understand it even to be involved in a wrong move,” he said.

He said if the Bill was passed erroneously, the elections commission would face issues in holding the election.

“That is why we ask more time to discuss the amendments. It is not reasonable to give the amendments to the MPS at the last moment, “he said. He said the government was bothered about how to win the elections not the stability in the council.