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ACBC elects
new head, but crisis continues A five-member committee appointed by the District Court to oversee the polls was divided on the validity of the proceedings. Its chairman, Appeal Court Judge Chandradasa Nanayakkara, who stayed away from last Sunday's elections told The Sunday Times, "I did not want to participate due to the constant bickering and quarrels between two candidates." Justice Nanayakkara said he felt that a Buddhist organisation which had in the past been headed by eminent people should not act in such a manner. The elections moved into a dramatic stage when during the run-up to the polls, two of the five candidates for presidency withdrew in support of a fellow nominee. The two candidates Francis Wanigasekera and Sudath Devapura withdrew in favour of Olcott Gunasekera, but he was trounced by Milina Sumathipala amidst charges of ballot stuffing, rigging of registers and bus-loads of voters being brought to the scene. Three members of the court-appointed supervision committee - Palitha Kannangara, S.S. Kuragama and Ananda Premasinghe - said the polls were valid but Justice Nanayakkara stayed away while the fifth member, Udaya Rohana de Silva, charged that the register was changed prior to the elections, new names were introduced between old names, letters were not properly sent out, and the joint secretaries started issuing directions in contravention of procedures. Making these charges, Mr. de Silva, withdrew from the monitoring committee. Polling took place from 9.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. last Sunday with 993 members casting their votes. Ms. Sumathipala received 855 votes while Mr. Gunasekera received 115 and the other candidate, N.A.H.W. Mendis, received only three. Mr. Wanigasekera who withdrew his candidature claimed the poll was "very ugly," with people being brought in buses from distant places. He said the desire to win was for personal prestige and not for Buddhist precepts. Mr. Devapura, another candidate who withdrew also hit out strongly. He charged that some people were forced to cast vote in favour of Ms. Sumathipala while an attempt was made to impersonate former ACBC president M.B. Ariyapala. Ms. Sumathipala rejecting the charges, said the elections was held after several years and that was the reason for the large voter turn out. She said that while she was acting president for the past nine months, she had enrolled about 200 new members and she believed it was quite in order to provide transport to members who had to come from distant places. The defeated candidate, Olcott Gunasekera, was magnanimous. "It's now over. Let's not fight about it," he said. |
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