Chairman of the Election Commission Mahinda Deshapriya has responded to Minister Wimal Weerawansa’s recent criticism on the EC.
In a statement issued to the media today (08th), he states that although the EC generally refrains from commenting on statements or criticism about them, it was needed at this time because of the criticism was unfounded and many had requested for a clarification or response on the part of EC. Furthermore, the EC Chief also states that he also believes that it’s necessary to respond, specially because the country is still in a constitutionally declared election period and a national crisis at the same time.
“The EC never said that politicians should not take part in providing relief to the needy. We have clearly emphasized that politicians must not use this as an opportunity to promote their candidacy or their party. Our stance is that this must be the norm even when normalcy prevails, in a civilized country. We had to issue such a statement because we received plenty of complaints, out of which most of them were about candidates of a particular party. Further, it must be noted that, many such complaints come from the candidates representing the same party.”, the statement from the EC chief read.
Responding further to the criticism, the EC Chief notes that the notice from them is not targeted at a particular party, but is relevant to every party, team and candidates. Moreover, the EC recommends that if at all these politicians want to engage in relief efforts for their people, it would be ideal for them to provide relief through the government mechanism, and that too without any publicity stunts.
Minister Wimal Weerawansa criticised the Election Commission few days ago for their allegation which suggested that politicians doing politics in the guise of providing relief for the needy during the ongoing crisis.
“Election Commission is doing politics right now. One of its members recently gave an interview to the BBC, stating that the current country is on an authoritarian path. The EC chief suddenly comes up with statements saying politicians should not be involved in this. We’re not doing politics. We’re not in a dire situation to do politics even in the case of Corona patients”, he stated.
“Don’t publish pictures” Election Commission tells Politicians
He further added that even if it is the opposition or the governing party, politicians must be giving the leadership to the society because the state officials can’t handle this situation alone.
“We don’t have any political biases at this moment. We are fulfilling a social responsibility. We are not minors to not understand the underlying politics in the EC. It is evident how the EC Chief’s behaviour has changed during the previous government and now. Nobody has a right or audacity to question our right of helping our people during tough times and we’ll keep doing so”. Minister Weerawansa said.
First time in the history, Sri Lankan Rupee hits Rs 200 against US$