Government will honour Supreme Court’s order against withholding funds for Local Government Election

Sri Lanka’s State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya stated today (March 04) that the government will honour the Supreme Court’s interim order barring the withholding of funds allocated for the 2023 Local Government Election.

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court yesterday (March 03) issued an interim order on the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, and the Attorney General who represents the Finance Minister preventing them from withholding any funds allocated by the 2023 Budget for the Local Government Poll 2023.

The court also issued another interim order preventing the retention of funds allocated for the Department of Government Printing, for the purpose of printing ballot papers.

The interim order was issued after permission was granted to examine an application that was filed by the General Secretary of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) Ranjith Madduma Bandara.

The application was taken up in the presence of Supreme Court Justices P. Padman Surasena, Janak De Silva, and Priyantha Jayawardena.

The application will be taken up for examination from the 26th of May 2023.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Sri Lanka has decided to convene a special meeting on 07 March in order to reach a conclusive date on which the 2023 polls will be held.

Accordingly, all relevant officials including the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, the Government Printer and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) have been informed to attend the meeting, following an order issued by the Supreme Court instructing that a date for the election be announced before 09 March – the date on which the polls were initially scheduled to be held.