“Unseen hand behind delays in printing ballot papers”- Govt. Press unions

Ballot papers for ten districts have already been printed but progress has been slow due to an unseen hand, trade union sources of the Department of Government Printing said on Friday.Secretary of the Government Printing Employees Union, Asanka Sandaruwan said that they started printing ballot papers on Feb 12.

 “We are still printing ballot papers. In our history we have never taken this long to print ballot papers,” he said.

Sandaruwan said the department has adequate material for printing, the necessary equipment and a trained staff. Therefore, the department should not have any problems printing ballot papers in a few days in a secure and reliable manner.

 “It’s not as if we have not done this before. There are people here who can print these with their eyes closed. It is obvious that some powerful force is applying pressure on the Government Printer to delay the printing of ballot papers to delay elections,” he said.

 Earlier this week, Government Printer, Gangani Liyanage informed the Elections Commission that she can’t print the ballot papers unless the full estimated cost of printing (Rs. 401.6 million) is settled.

 She had cited, as the reason for the delay, President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s order on Jan 31, as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies to curtail government expenditure with a warning to public officials that they would be personally held responsible for whatever goods and services they obtained on credit.