• All parties consented to submit draft bill to P'ment

Minister Bimal Rathnayake expressed his belief that the Election Commission (EC) will take steps to hold the Local Government (LG) Elections either in the second or fourth week of April this year. He made this statement while speaking to the media in Jaffna.

He also stated that all parties have jointly submitted the draft Bill to Parliament for the amendment of the Local Authorities Elections Act to conduct the LG Elections. 

Minister Rathnayake added: “With the agreement of the leaders of all parties, the Government has submitted a draft Bill to the Parliament regarding the re-conduct of the LG Elections. 

Currently, various parties have filed several petitions in Court. However, we believe that this will not pose a significant obstacle to holding the Elections. The Court will give its verdict when it decides, but the Court has a limited number of days to do so. Therefore, we hope that the EC will hold the Elections in the second or fourth week of April.”

He also stated that the Government aims to hold the Provincial Council Elections in the Northern Province and across Sri Lanka without further delays.