The main Parliamentary Opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), alleged that the Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala had spoken to all police officers yesterday (21) ahead of the Local Government (LG) Elections’ postal vote, and that it will lodge a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) regarding the same.

SJB Parliamentarian Nalin Bandara Jayamaha levelled these allegations during a press briefing held yesterday, where he opined that such an online conversation, which targets all Police officers and is held several days prior to the postal vote, amounts to influencing Police officers in the context of the postal vote. “The postal vote of the LG Elections is scheduled to commence on 24 April. The present Government appears to be influencing the postal vote in various ways,” he claimed, adding that the Government must not influence Elections as such amounts to a threat to democracy. Noting that the SJB has already lodged a complaint with the EC regarding the alleged undue influence exerted by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in the context of the said Elections, Jayamaha urged the Government to give the public the freedom to vote for a preferred candidate.

According to Bandara, another alleged act of influence is the replacement of District coordination committees and Provincial development committees with village committees and urban committees under the Clean Sri Lanka programme. The SJB expressed opposition to these steps.

Attempts to contact the Public Security Ministry yesterday in this regard were not successful.