• Wayamba: polls chief blames police 
• Worst of the worst – prelate 
• 'Presidential immunity a shield for the doer, not the act' — SC 
• 5 new DIGs 
• Sonia gate crashes into Tirupathi

Wayamba: polls chief blames police 

By Faraza Farook & Nilika de Silva

The Sunday Times learns that Mr. Dissanayake has sent a strongly worded letter to Police Chief Lakdasa Kodituwakku. Elections Department officials remained tight lipped about its contents but admitted it related to the inability of the Police to curb unprecedented malpractices. 

The Elections Chief's protests to his Police counterpart came as President Chandrika Kumaratunga announced that she proposed to take strong action against those responsible for the malpractices. She made this known to Cabinet Ministers as well as senior members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

President Kumaratunga has already initiated an inquiry.

At Wednesday's Cabinet meeting ministers congratulated President Chandrika Kumaratunga for the PA victory at Wayamba. She responded by telling them that the ministers had also made their own contributions.

However she noted that violation of polls laws and malpractices had marred the polls and made meaningless the campaign she personally carried out in the 19 electorates in the Wayamba. She said that even without the ugly incidents the PA would have won a comfortable victory.

This had been confirmed in a survey she had initiated. President Kumaratunga promised to circulate amongministers a copy of this survey which she said gave the PA a higher rating than a survey done by a cabinet minister.

Among other matters it will ascertain whether the widespread malpractices were carried out with the intention of personally discrediting her. 

It will also ascertain whether personnel from any uniformed service were used in large numbers to carry out thuggery, intimidation and vote rigging. 

Mr. Dissanayake has publicly declared that he was not satisfied with the security provided by the Police to polling booths. He has said that they failed in their duty.

He has also said he was in favour of provincial elections to other councils being held on the same day. However, the Inspector General of Police would have to ensure security in the polling booths, he has said. 

UNP General Secretary Gamini Atukorale, told The Sunday Times his party had decided not to agree if provincial polls were conducted on a staggered basis.

He said the UNP would hold a rally on Tuesday at the Hyde Park to protest against the Wayamba polls fiasco. 

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who will preside at the rally complained yesterday that two senior Superintendents of Police who were on duty in Wayamba polls had now been promoted to the rank of Deputy Inspectors General of Police. 

He asked how could their promotions have been approved by President Kumaratunga when she herself had admitted to polls violation of election laws and malpractices at Wayamba. 

A constituent partner of the People's Alliance, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress has written to President Kumaratunga asking her to summon an Executive Committee meeting of the PA to discuss the Wayamba polls fiasco.

SLMC General Secretary Rauff Hakeem told The Sunday Times: "We are thoroughly dissatisfied with the incidents during the polls and the malpractices that were carried out. Our leadership is of the view that we should go it alone at the next polls."

Transport Minister A.H.M. Fowzie confirmed yesterday that President Kumaratunga would make an inquiry into allegations that PA members were involved in the violence. 

He said the President has assured action against those involved. 

Mr. Fowzie dismissed a request by the SLMC that two bonus seats won by the PA be given to the SLMC. The request came despite SLMC expressing reservations over the conduct of the polls. 

He said they had already been given to the candidates who had polled the highest number of votes immediately after those who were selected in the first round. 

One each had been given to the Kurunegala and Puttalam district.

Worst of the worst – prelate

The Venerable Madihe Pannaseeha Mahanayake Thera of the Amarapura Nikaya in a letter to President Chandrika Kumaratunga said the Wayamba election was a disgrace to the country and to the Bandaranaike family.

H e called for a revival of the Buddhist way of life through principles which brought about an inner transformation of people and thereby a transformation and prosperity for the country. 

'Presidential immunity a shield for the doer, not the act' — SC

By Our Legal Correspondent

In a stinging criticism also of Presidential immunity, the Court headed by Chief Justice G.P.S. de Silva, has stated that immunity of the President is neither absolute nor perpetual.

"Immunity is a shield for the doer not the act," the court states and goes on to explain that immunity applies only for the person who holds the office of President, and does not continue for his or her private acts thereafter.

The findings were made in a 21-page judgement on a fundamental rights application filed by Varuna Karunathilaka and Sunanda Deshapriya of the Free Media Movement against the Government's failure to hold elections to five provincial councils.

The elections were postponed by President Kumaratunga under Emergency Regulations. The Court, holding in favour of the petitioners has stated that the freedom to vote is a fundamental right coming under the umbrella of freedom of expression. The court held the postponement of the elections clearly constituted "executive action."

The court ruled: "Article 35 (of the constitution), therefore, neither transforms an unlawful act into lawful one, nor renders it one which shall not be questioned in any court. It does not exclude judicial review of the lawfulness or propriety of an impugned act or omission, in appropriate proceedings against some other person who does not enjoy immunity from suit; as, for instancee, a defendant or a respondent who relies on an act done by the President, in order to justify his own conduct. It is for that reason that this Court has entertained and decided questions in relation to emergency regulations made by the president."

See more excerpts of Judgement 

5 new DIGs

They are Mithra Siriwardena, M. Sivaratnam, Lucky Jayawardena, N.K. Illangakoon and Daya Jayasundera.

Sonia gate crashes into Tirupathi 

By Our India Corr.

She refused to sign the mandatory "declaration form" saying that though she was a non Hindu, she believed in Lord Venkateswara. Ms. Gandhi had asked her staff to tell the embarrassed temple authorities that since her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi in the sixties, she had been living according to the traditions of the Nehru - Gandhi family, which were quintessentially Hindu.

The temple authorities' made subtle and not so subtle efforts to get her to sign the declaration. They had specially and conspicuously placed a large notice board at the entrance saying that non-Hindus should sign the form. But Ms.Gandhi was unfazed. 

Ultimately, politics won. The authorities yielded to pressure from those accompanying Ms.Gandhi and received her warmly. Accompanied by her daughter, Priyanka Wadhera, who herself is married to a Christian, Ms.Gandhi worshipped Lord Venkateswara for ten minutes and offered two silk vastrams. As she left the hill top temple, a sheepish temple's administrator, offered her prasadam. However, Shyama Prasad Mukherji, the head of a local Hindu organisation, maintained that the custom of having non-Hindus sign the declaration had the sanction of the Supreme Court and that what had happened was a breach of both custom and law.