“Baseless”: India denies reports of political influence amid Sri Lanka’s Prez poll

National

India firmly disputed media claims on Wednesday that New Delhi is attempting to influence Sri Lankan officials about parliamentary elections for the position of Sri Lankan President.

“We have seen baseless and purely speculative media reports about efforts at the political level from India to influence political leaders in Sri Lanka regarding elections in the Sri Lankan Parliament to the post of the President of Sri Lanka,” the Indian High Commission tweeted. While denying the false media reports, India also reiterated that it supports the realization of aspirations of the people of Sri Lanka in accordance with democratic means and values.

“We categorically deny these media reports as completely false. They are clearly a figment of someone’s imagination. It is reiterated that India supports the realization of aspirations of the people of Sri Lanka in accordance with democratic means and values, established institutions as well as constitutional provisions, and doesn’t interfere in internal affairs and democratic processes of another country,” it added.

This comment comes after voting for Sri Lanka’s presidential election completed today. The Sri Lankan parliamentarians voted in secret. GG Ponnambalam and Selvaraj Kajendram, both MPs, were absent.

Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe is one of the top three contenders for the presidential election, in which 225 members of the House are allowed to vote and participate in the secret ballot. Dullas Alahaperuma of the SLPP and Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the National People’s Power (NPP) are the other two candidates.

Sajith Premadasa, Sri Lanka’s major opposition leader, dropped his candidacy for president Wednesday, saying he will back rival candidate Dullas Alahapperuma.

Premadasa rushed to Twitter to declare that his party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, as well as its coalition and opposition allies, will back Alahapperuma, a member of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), in the next presidential elections.

Premadasa stated that he is making this choice for the “better benefit” of Lankans.

“For the greater good of my country that I love and the people I cherish I hereby withdraw my candidacy for the position of President. Samagi Jana Balawegaya and our alliance and our opposition partners will work hard towards making Dullas Alahaperuma victorious,” he tweeted.

Earlier, Alahapperuma was campaigning hard for the presidential election alongside his prime ministerial candidate Sajith Premadasa in an attempt to encourage Tamil MPs to vote for Dullas, according to the Daily Mirror.

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had earlier presented his resignation after escaping to Singapore. After tens of thousands of demonstrators stormed his official house in Colombo, the president travelled to the Maldives for the first time.