“The election has been postponed. What remains to be done is for the commission to issue a gazette to announce its postponement, like issuing a death certificate,” former election commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said in Galle yesterday (22).
He was responding to the media following a meeting at the district secretariat there.
Asked as to what could be the reason for a postponement of the local government polls, he said, “There is no fuel due to the QR code. Ballot papers cannot be printed with no money available. Police refuse to give personnel because there is no money.”
Furthermore, the Finance Ministry says funding cannot be given except for an essential purpose, Deshapriya said, adding that “Since this is a matter outside the commission, I cannot give reasons for its postponement or the persons responsible.”
In answer to another question, he said, “If I was there (as the election commission chairman), I would have known how to bat. But, now that I am in the outside, I cannot tell them how to bat. The one at the wicket should know how to do that.”
