Say, Mr. Chairman of the EC, does COVID strike only at night?
Poll Chief Deshapriya’s plan to keep ballot boxes in cold storage overnight runs into controversy
Eyebrows were raised quizzingly over the announcement Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya made last month in Kandy on June 21 of his extraordinary decision to count the ballot papers of the August 5 election on the following day and not on the same evening immediately after polling had closed.
The raised brow regained its usual countenance only wh e n the Election Commissioner reassured the nation on television the same week that the counting will be done the same night and the party result announced by sunrise on 6th morning. But hardly had six days passed when the Election Chief again had a change of heart. On June 30 he announced that the ballots will be counted only the following day at 8 am, leaving the boxes unattended for approximately 12 hours.
This is a radical and disturbing departure from the age old practice followed in the past in previously held general elections to begin the counting immediately after ballot boxes have been transported from the voting centres to the counting centres where manned by scores of public servants, conscripted for election duties, await to discharge their tasks. This tried and tested method of operation has been done to minimise the time factor so that vote rigging and stuffing of ballot boxes would be made more difficult.
And the lame duck excuse given to keep the ballot boxes in hibernation till the following morning is ‘due to health concerns.’
The only health reason that can be contemplated is the current COVID pandemic. The 2020 election was to have initially been held on April 25. In spite of the SLPP Government’s insistence it should be held on schedule, it was the Election Commission who braved the Government’s ire and postponed it to June 20 citing the rampaging coronavirus as the reason.
Despite a court judgement that did not disturb the holding of elections on June 20, the Election Commission took the unilateral decision to postpone the polls again to August 5 because it was not satisfied the COVID threat had disappeared.
In fact on May 12 Elections Chief Mahinda Deshapriya met with 34 party representatives and declared boldly that while his office was prepared to conduct the general election it will not play dice with human lives. The people, he said, would be denied of sovereignty without elections and sovereignty was the inalienable right of the people. But, he declared, ‘ the Election Commission would not proceed with elections over the dead bodies of people.’
Thus with such a bold and proven track record of placing lives before polls, it can be safely assumed that had there been the slightest threat to people’s lives from COVID, even after following the health guidelines issued, Deshapriya would have had no hesitation in postponing the polls again.
So why then does the Elections Chief consider it safe to vote and safe to count in the day light hours without any health concerns arising but dangerous to engage in counting the polled votes after dusk? Why the COVID jitters after dark? Does the coronavirus strike only at night? The godless hours when ghouls rob graves and feed on the putrefying dead.
As the SLFP’s senior adviser, Prof. Lakshman Piyadasa, warned on Thursday: ‘’Sri Lanka had a bad reputation on election malpractices and the election history was replete with tales of intimidation of voters, stuffing of ballot boxes and impersonations.. What we are afraid of is that if anyone wants to, he can sabotage and change the pattern of the results. We have experience of blackouts, hijacking of ballot boxes and bundles of votes going missing during the counting at night.’’
Prof. Piyadasa further said that not only the SLFP but almost all other political parties in the fray had decided to speak to the Elections Commission on this issue.
Good. With the countdown begun and election only 72 hour away, they should do so at their soonest. And it will be prudent for the Election Commission to heed the advice given and act on it without delay. Why allow a dung drop of vote- rigging allegation to spoil what could have been a perfect glass of unadulterated milk?
To this end, the Election Commission should and must conduct its affairs in the manner Caesar expected his wife to conduct herself. Not merely unsuspected but above suspicion.