June 20 poll unlikely; EC will act on SC ruling

Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said yesterday that it would be unlikely that the Commission could hold parliamentary elections on the June 20 date already fixed, but it would abide by a Supreme Court ruling with regard to the conduct of the elections.

He told the Sunday Times, “The Election Commission which met this week decided that it would have to go by the ruling of the Supreme Court.” With this in mind, the Commission has fixed another meeting for Wednesday to review the situation.

The minimum time period for the campaign of five weeks or 35 days stipulated in the Parliamentary Elections Act was already not possible before June 20.

After cancelling April 25 as the date for elections, the three-member Commission gazetted June 20 as the new date. Logistical arrangements were on the drawing boards and procedural arrangements for voting were being discussed when this new development came.

However, there were doubts about the conduct of parliamentary elections on June 20 other than in the event of a SC order. This is particularly in the light of the time limit of a minimum 35 days or a maximum of 49 days before which campaigning should be allowed. The EC is keen to ensure a fuller time period is allowed for the political campaigns. Towards this, the EC has chosen not to publish the list of candidates in a gazette with their numbers to facilitate preference votes.

The petitions before the Supreme Court in the form of Fundamental Rights applications challenging the decision by the EC to hold elections has brought about a new turn of events. The cases will come up for hearing tomorrow and on Tuesday (May 18 and 19).

Chairman Deshapriya said that in the event of the Commission being given the power to decide on the date of the elections -- an assumption based on an impending Supreme Court ruling --, the EC would now follow a four-point criteria.

They are:

Whether it would be possible for officials to conduct the elections in a safe manner. Whether contesting political parties have sufficient time to conduct their political campaigns. Whether there is a conducive climate for the conduct of elections.

Whether preliminary work related to the elections could be completed on time.

“We are expecting reasonable normalcy. We will consult Public Health Inspectors, the Government Medical Officers Association ( GMOA), Medical Officers of Health, Community Medical Experts, and other stakeholders before finalising arrangements. Such a process too is expected to be time consuming," he said.

When representatives of political parties met members of the Election Commission l ast Thursday, some were in favour of conducting the polls on June 20 whilst others were not.