By Sandun A Jayasekera

The Elections Commission wants the government to directly intervene for the conduct of the provincial council polls before the presidential election and has sought a meeting with President Maithripala Sirisena to take a final decision on this matter.   

 Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya told Daily Mirror yesterday that the EC met Speaker Karu Jayasuriya on May 9 and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the 16th and discussed the possibility of holding PC polls before the presidential election expected by the year end.   

“They told us that they did not want to postpone PC elections and stressed that Parliament will have to expedite the process to conduct early elections. The Prime Minister will meet party leaders on Tuesday to discuss the issue and take a final decision,” he said.  

Commenting on the Easter Sunday attacks and the subsequent ethnic riots, Mr. Deshapriya said the entire management and the staff were shocked over the loss of life, injuries caused to innocent churchgoers and the properties destroyed.   

They told us that they did not want to postpone PC elections and  stressed that Parliament will have to expedite the process to conduct  early elections