The directive by the Supreme Court (SC) requires election commissioner to prepare these guidelines that will force state media to act in a free and fair manner during the general election.

Supreme Court hearing a fundamental rights (FR) petition filed by the United National Party (UNP) also directed the election commissioner to have a dialogue with all political parties contesting the general election before proposed guidelines are done.

Biased

The UNP in its FR accused state media being biased towards the current United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

The deputy leader of the UNP Karu Jayasuriya who filed the FR speaking to Sandesaya about the court decision given just eight days before the election said that it was the duty of the election commissioner to ensure that election is held in a free and fair manner.

“We have seen past experiences and this time, our hope is that election commissioner would ensure a free and fair election,” Karu Jauasuriya added.