SC issues order on Finance Secretary against withholding budget allocations for elections
March 3, 2023 03:56 pm
The Supreme Court has issued an interim order on the Secretary to the Finance Ministry, preventing him from withholding the funds allocated through the 2023 Budget for election purposes.
Supreme Court three-member bench comprising Justices Preethi Padman Surasena, Janak de Silva and Priyantha Fernando gave this order while giving permission to take up a fundamental rights (FR) petition filed by the general secretary of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Ranjith Madduma Bandara for hearing.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has postponed the announcement of the new dates for the 2023 Local Government election.
Accordingly, a new date for the election will be made public before March 09, the Election Commission chairman, Attorney-at-Law Nimal G Punchihewa said, following a meeting convened earlier today.
On 24 February, the election body announced that the LG polls would not be held on 09 March as scheduled, owing to matters beyond its control.
On several occasions, the Election Commission held subsequent meetings to review the country’s economic situation and several other factors in order to decide on the new dates for the LG polls.
