SLC to appoint election committee on 12 Nov.

By Madushka Balasuriya

Sri Lanka Cricket will hold a Special General Meeting on 12 November to appoint an Election Committee, it has been announced, in the first step towards holding its long-delayed board elections.

“The required notice has already been dispatched to the membership of SLC by the Director General of Sports and the Special General Meeting is scheduled to be held on 12 November at 10 a.m. at the Duncan White Auditorium of the Ministry of Sports in Colombo 7. The Special General meeting will be conducted by the Director General of Sports,” stated an SLC release.

The move means that the earliest elections can be called for, as per the SLC Constitution, is 40 days after the appointment of an election committee – which would be 23 December in this case. 

However, Daily FT understands that, as SLC is currently under the control of the Sports Ministry-appointed Competent Authority, the Constitution may not strictly apply. As such, elections could theoretically be held before the end of the 40-day grace period – though any decision on this would be at the sole behest of the election committee.

In any event, prior to holding elections there will also be a one-week period allocated for all parties to challenge the selections made for the election committee with an appellate body consisting of three retired Supreme Court judges.

SLC elections have been delayed indefinitely since 31 May after a Court of Appeal found that SLC election protocol had been flouted in the run-up to the elections. While the Court subsequently lifted the ban, in the months since elections still failed to materialise.