Consider election duties as a normal public administration process – Black Cap Movement

Black Cap Movement says that It is NOT necessary to deploy a huge number of government employees on election duty and release the election results overnight in a Local Government Poll 2023. They suggests to release election results after taking a few days to count.

Black Cap Movement is of the opinion that it is appropriate to consider election duty as a normal public administration process and participate in election duties without additional payment to public servants.

Although the gazette notification for the nominations of the local government elections was issued, the Election Commission has reached a crisis regarding the election activities. One of the reasons for this is that, although it is estimated that more than 12 billion rupees are needed for holding the election, only 10 billion rupees have been allocated in the last budget.

However, the Black Cap Movement believes that elections are a democratic right of the people and it is the responsibility of a democratic state to hold elections at the right time and give space to the referendum.

But due to the current economic crisis, apart from the money spent by the Election Commission, the national economy will have to bear another huge cost. The election will trigger new demand as the economy expands, such as printing materials, advertising costs, fuel and electricity demand. Because of this, it is essential to conduct the election process more economically. Otherwise, after the month of May, they will have to face huge fuel, gas, milk powder and other essential materials queues and electricity cuts.

On the other hand, when most of the political parties and trade union movements express their views in favor of an election, there will be no objection from the public servants to the relevant system.

Black Cap Movement says that It is NOT necessary to deploy a huge number of government employees on election duty and release the election results overnight in a Local Government Poll 2023 and it is possible to save a lot of money by taking a few days to announce the election results. Payments for election duties, which are a huge part of the election expenses, can be saved through it.

Therefore, we request that the election be considered as a national interest and the consent of all public servants be given for this. Also, we urge all trade unions to work for it and we have also suggested to the Election Commission to prepare related legal policies to reduce election and election campaign expenses. (LankaXpress.com )