JO questions Government on Provincial Council elections

The Joint Opposition yesterday (7 March) blamed the Government for failing to announce its decision on the elections which needed to be held before 31 March for three Provincial Councils coming under the purview of Governors.

Joint Opposition Parliamentary Group Leader MP Dinesh Gunawardena pointed out that according to the Provincial Councils (amendment) act, Parliament must decide on holding elections for PC’s under Governor before 31 March.

“The Parliament can’t take any decision regarding these elections as the Government still has not announced its position regarding the matter. According to the Act, the Delimitation Committee should submit a report to the minister and the minister should submit it to the parliament within two weeks of receiving,” Gunawardena said, noting that Parliament had only three weeks to arrive at conclusive decision.

Gunawardena then demanded to know if the Government would go along with the recently passed Act, or if the Government would be bringing in further Amendments to the Act.

In response, Speaker Jayasuriya requested MP Gunawardana to refer his queries to Provincial Councils and Local Governments Minister Faiszer Mustapha.

“I understand the importance of the question raised by MP Gunawardena and therefore request that he direct his question to the subject Minister. I will see if he can provide an answer tomorrow,” the Speaker stated.  (SG)