Polls chief worried over health guidelines days before poll

COLOMBO (News1st) : Sri Lanka's poll chief has lamented the failure to enforce health guidelines days ahead of the parliamentary election fixed for August 5. Mahinda Deshapriya, the chairman of the National Election Commission, pointed out that health guidelines were announced by the director general of health services on June 3. "...even after five months, these guidelines have not been legalized as rules and regulations, via a gazette notification," the polls chief said on Friday. He said approval has been obtained from the legal draftsman, and the Attorney General to sanction these laws, while the President too has issued instructions to this effect. "However, there is a delay somewhere," Deshapriya remarked. The parliamentary elections, had been delayed twice amidst the coronavirus pandemic, after the disease had started spreading in the country on March 11.