Election Chief announces polls to 93 local councils

Nominations to 40 other councils may also be called on Wednesday if Gazette notification is issued

The Election Commission will go ahead with the polls for 93 local councils where there are no multi- member wards, it was announced yesterday.

The three-member Commission decided on this last evening to ensure polls are not delayed any further.

Polls to the remaining local bodies, those with multi- member wards, now await the determination of the Court of Appeal. Six electors have petitioned the court, challenging the legality of the Local Government Minister declaring numbers for the multimember wards. They argue the minister's action is illegal.

Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya told reporters yesterday the Commission had instructed Returning Officers of local councils that have not been affected by the Court of Appeal interim injunction, to announce they were calling for nominations from tomorrow.

Mr Deshapriya said if the amended gazette notification regarding 40 other bodies is issued tomorrow or on Tuesday, nominations for those councils could be called on Wednesday.

He noted that the petitions in the Court of Appeal had been filed over the creation of multi- member wards and stressed it was up to the court to determine if this applied to all such bodies.

“If the Appeal Court dismisses the petitions on December 4, we are confi- dent that the election for all local councils can still be held on the same day. However, if this does not happen, this may be difficult,” he said.

He added that holding the local council elections on a staggered basis was not unusual for Sri Lanka and cited numerous occasions when it happened from 1991 to 2011.

Meanwhile, yesterday, both Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and