Monday Jan 27, 2025
Monday Jan 27, 2025
Thursday, 23 January 2025 03:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Incumbent President Shammi Silva
Acting Secretary Chryshantha Kapuwatte
By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Acceptance of nominations for Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) 64th Annual General Meeting to elect office-bearers for the next two years closed at 3.30 p.m. yesterday with the Election Committee deciding to hold the elections on 31 March.
The five-member Election Committee for SLC for the year 2025 headed by retired Court of Appeal Judge Malanie Gunaratne and four others appointed during an Extraordinary General Meeting recently will conduct the election of office-bearers at the AGM in accordance with the prevailing Sports Law regulations and provisions of the SLC Constitution.
One significant aspect of this year’s election of office bearers is that there will be only 60 voting members with one vote each as compared to the past when there were 147 members with several of them holding onto two votes each.
This historic amendment to the SLC constitution took place on 20 December last year when at an Extraordinary General Meeting the SLC membership approved significant amendments to the constitution notably among them a substantial reduction in the total number of voting members from 147 to 60.
In making the change SLC stated: “The new voting structure ensures that voting rights are determined solely based on the level of cricket played by each member club, with all qualified clubs and associations being entitled to only one vote. This marks a pivotal step towards equitable representation and streamlined decision-making.”
In accordance with the present Sports Law regulations the incumbent office-bearers are eligible for re-election for another two-year term which means that SLC President Shammi Silva and his committee can contest the elections. Silva has been president for the past six years.
“According to our constitution elections have to be held every two years and according to the Sports Law once you are elected you can continue for two 4-year terms which means for eight years,” explained Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva.
There is every likelihood that the same office-bearers have a chance of getting re-elected. The only post that will be contested is for the Secretary where the vacancy created by the resignation of Mohan de Silva has to be filled. Assistant Secretary Chryshantha Kapuwatte has been playing the role of Acting Secretary since De Silva resigned on 4 November 2023.
The Election Committee will scrutinise the eligibility of the nominations and make public the list of candidates for the upcoming election giving time for anyone to raise objections against any candidate.
