Government printer Gangani Liyanage says that 20 crore rupees are needed for the postal ballot papers currently printed in connection with the 2023 local government polls, but only 4 crore rupees have been received for that. She has informed the Election Commission that the ballot papers cannot be handed over until the entire due amount is received.
The Government Printing Officer stated that the ballot papers related to 17 districts have been printed so far and the rechecking of the ballot papers should be done under police protection and no money has been received for that till now.
She further mentioned that due to non-receipt of the money spent on the printing of ballot papers, a crisis has arisen in maintaining the internal affairs of the printing press and in view of the current situation, the postal ballot papers cannot be handed over to the commission by next Monday.