• EC Chair says any future court orders on nomn. rejections would mean Polls postponement for affected LG authorities
• Postal voting dates revised to 24-25 and 28-29 April

The Election Commission (EC) stated that while postal ballot papers for the Local Government (LG) Elections have been prepared with the required changes for all 339 LG institutions after reviewing all court orders received up to yesterday (17), any future court order could however result in the postponement of the Elections in the affected LG bodies.

Several court orders have been issued regarding the rejection of nominations submitted by political parties and independent groups for the LG Elections by the Election authorities.

When queried by The Daily Morning regarding the progress of Election-related activities in light of the said court rulings, EC Chairperson, R.M.A.L. Rathnayake said that they had made all the required changes taking into account the court rulings that had been issued as of yesterday. "We initially planned to hold the LG Elections for 339 LG bodies, but, due to issues that arose, postal ballots were issued only in some areas. However, we analysed all court rulings as of yesterday, and finalised (postal) ballots with the required changes. The last batch of postal ballots will be issued on 21 April."

He also said that any future court rulings on matters such as nomination rejections would result in the LG Elections being postponed in the affected LG bodies. “Some other cases are scheduled to be heard in the coming days. If we are required to accept a previously rejected nomination based on the outcome of such cases, Elections in those LG bodies will have to be postponed. This is because we would not have enough time to revise the postal ballots and conduct Elections on the scheduled date."

The nominations process for the 2025 LG Elections was conducted across 25 districts from 17-20 March. Out of the nominations submitted by recognised political parties and independent groups, a total of 425 had been rejected, after which some of the affected parties and independent groups resorted to legal action over the matter.

Meanwhile, the EC has revised the dates for postal voting in the upcoming LG Elections. According to the updated schedule, postal voting will now take place on 24-25 and 28-29 April, said Rathnayake.