• Claims President Ranil Wickremesinghe is using Govt. Printer Gangani Liyanage and Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana to obstruct upcoming LG polls
• Says Govt. Printer is already in possession of enough paper and ink to print ballot papers for two elections while it has printed 300,000 out of the 600,000 ballot papers needed for LG polls
• Questions what will happen if each time an election is declared and a person files a petition leading to the Government Printer to stop printing ballots
• Says an election process cannot be halted unless the courts issue an order in this regard

National People’s Power (NPP) Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake says it was President Ranil Wickremesinghe who ordered the Government Printer to halt the printing of ballot papers. The NPP Leader accused the President of using the Government Printer Gangani Liyanage and Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana to obstruct the upcoming Local Government polls.

Holding a press conference yesterday, Dissanayake said officials of the Election Commission are taking great pains to hold the elections as scheduled. The NPP Leader said there are two main requisites to hold a postal vote. “The first is the postal ballot papers must be printed. Secondly, it must be transported to the relevant voting centres,” he noted.  Dissanayake said at least 600,000 ballot papers are required for the upcoming postal vote. “Already over 300,000 ballot papers have been printed. In addition to this, the Government Printers is currently in possession of enough paper and ink to print ballot papers for two elections. The only additional expenditure here is to do with salaries and overtime payments of staff,” he pointed out.   wHe accused the President of calling a meeting with Government Printer Gangani Liyanage, Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam and Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana while the printing process was ongoing and ordering Liyanage to halt the printing of ballot papers. 

“Later Gangani Liyange wrote to the EC and claimed an issue has now arisen on the printing of ballot papers and the related cost due to an ongoing petition before the courts over the holding of elections. An election process cannot be halted unless the courts issue an order in this regard. 

“If this logic is to be accepted, then every time an election is declared and someone files a petition against it, the Government Printer will claim it cannot print ballot papers due to the pending case. This is clearly an illegal action taken by the Government Printer due to the pressure exerted by President Ranil Wickremesinghe,” he alleged.  “The main responsibility for State funds lies with the Parliament as per the Constitution. The Treasury Secretary, the Cabinet or the Finance Minister has no fiscal powers. Accordingly, the Parliament has set aside funds necessary for an election through the last Budget. The Treasury Secretary’s responsibility is to provide those provisions according to the prescribed expenditure heads. But here the President is using Gangani Liyanage and Mahinda Siriwardana to obstruct elections,” he added.  Presenting Article 104 of the Constitution, Dissanayake said it sets out the powers of the EC and that State sector employees must carry out orders of the EC. “Accordingly if the EC requests ballot papers to be printed the Government Printer is bound to carry it out. If the EC requests protection, then the IGP is bound to provide the necessary police personnel for the task. Similarly, when the EC requests for the funds allocated for polls, it is the responsibility of the Treasury to release it.” 

The NPP Leader said legal action can be taken against any tate employee who refuses to adhere to the orders or fails to carry them out. 

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