EC to sue public servants not providing details for LG Polls duties

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana  

The Election Commission of Sri Lanka today warned legal action against public servants who have not provide necessary personal details and inventories of vehicle assets of state entities to be deployed in the duties of the upcoming Local Government elections, the Daily Mirror learns.  

The ECSL as per the powers vested in it through the constitution has sent a special circular recently addressed to all Ministry Secretaries, Commission Secretaries, Department Heads, Provincial Council Chief Secretaries, Governor Secretaries, Provincial Public Service Commission Secretaries and all Board Secretaries requesting data sheets with details of all public employees and state resources including vehicle inventories that could be used in the election duties.  A senior official from the ECSL told the Daily Mirror that out of a cadre of over 1.7 million public servants in Sri Lanka, only 200,000 have furnished their data sheets to the respective District Secretaries thus far, who will act as the Returning Officers of each district, where the local bodies will hold their elections.  

Since the holding of the Local Government polls and related duties such as counting and announcing results, are being carried out within their respective districts, relatively a large number of public servants and resources like vehicles are required for this election.  The official said that for the postal vote alone, over 600,000 government servants have registered, although only about 200,000 have provided their data sheets.  

Thus, the commission is bound to take legal action against the officers who have disregarded the order from the ECSL, which is a part of their job description to adhere to as public servants.  

The official further said that from those who have disregarded these election duty requirements most are teachers, who consist a majority of the government servants.  

It is their mandatory responsibility to adhere to the duties when an election is underway in the country, the official said.