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Polls chief cracks down on errant state officials
View(s):Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya has cracked the whip on errant state officials for not cooperating with him in his efforts to conduct a free and fair election. The latest instance is the transfer of two additional secretaries of the Ministry of Skills Development and Vocational Training. The Minister in charge is Piyasena Gamage.
Elections officials said yesterday the two officials had been responsible for providing jobs in institutions under the ministry. Such an act is a violation of election laws since those jobs could be seen as being given as inducement for their vote, officials said.
On Thursday President Maithripala Sirisena acted fast on a request by Commissioner Deshapriya to remove Posts Ministry Secretary Abdul Majeed. He is alleged to have allowed vehicles and office equipment such as faxes and telephones to be used for political work of a ruling party candidate.
Also transferred out of his office on Friday was a Superintendent of Prisons in Colombo. This was after complaints that remand prisoners, some linked to underworld groups, were using mobile phones to influence voters to support certain candidates.
A Prisons Department spokesman confirmed the transfer had taken place and said that extra surveillance had been put in place to ensure that such activity did not take place again.
The Elections monitoring group, Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE), said this week it had information that underworld groups were actively working for certain candidates mainly in the Colombo, Gampaha, Hambantota and Kandy districts.
The Elections Commissioner took the unprecedented step of informing public servants through a newspaper notice this week that they would face tough punitive action if they engage in party political activities in contravention of election laws.
This is the first time that the Commissioner has issued the directive in keeping with the additional powers given to him under the 19th Amendment which was approved by Parliament in April this year.
Public officials who fail without a reasonable cause to comply with any directives or guidelines issued by the Commission of Elections now face, upon conviction by the High court, a fine of up to Rs. 100,000 or jail for a term up to three years or both.