The National People’s Power (NPP) has filed a fundamental rights petition before the Supreme Court requesting that the President’s Secretary and a group be issued orders not to approve the implementation of projects that are advantageous to the political parties of the ruling party during the upcoming elections and to act by the letter issued by the Election Commission in this regard.
This petition has been filed by Asitha Niroshan, former Kaduwela Municipal Councilor, Colombo District executive member of the National People’s Power, and Attorney at Law Janaka Adhikari on behalf of the National People’s Power lawyers.
The Attorney General, the Prime Minister and the cabinet members, the President’s Secretary, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance have been named as respondents.
The petitioner points out that the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance has issued a circular called Budget Proposals 2024, under which it has been proposed to implement development projects in rural areas.
In addition, another circular called “Mountain Decade” has been issued stating that financial assistance would be provided to raise the living standards of the people in rural areas.
The petition states that it has been announced that these two projects should be completed by July 31 of this year, and Rs 10 million each has been allocated to the community committees for their completion.
The petitioners have shown that the candidates who submitted their nominations for the local government polls are working in these community committees, and through these processes, they will have the opportunity to gain political advantages.
As such, the petitioner informs the court that the Chairman of the Election Commission has sent a letter to the President’s Secretary asking not to take steps to allocate state grants to such candidates.
The petitioners request that the Supreme Court rule that the projects are being implemented to gain political advantage in the upcoming presidential election and local government polls and that the petitioners’ fundamental rights are being violated.
(Lanka Truth)
