India denies reports of political influence amid Sri Lanka’s Presidential poll

Colombo: India on Wednesday categorically denied media reports that New Delhi is making efforts at the political level to influence leaders in Sri Lanka regarding elections in the Parliament for the post of the 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 statement comes as voting for the election of the Sri Lankan President concluded today. All the Sri Lankan MPs voted through a secret ballot. MPs GG Ponnambalam and Selvaraj Kajendram were absent.

Acting Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe is among the top three candidates for the Presidential election in which 225 members of the House are eligible to vote and participate in the secret ballot. The other two candidates are SLPP parliamentarian Dullas Alahaperuma and National People’s Power (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

Sri Lanka’s main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday withdrew his candidature from the presidential race and said he is supporting rival candidate Dullas Alahapperuma for the top post.

Premadasa took to Twitter to say that his party the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and its alliance and opposition partners will support Alahapperuma, an MP of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), who is in the fray for the upcoming presidential elections.

Premadasa said that he is heading with this decision as he seeks the “greater good” for 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 race along with his prime ministerial candidate Sajith Premadasa in a bid to persuade the Tamil MPs to vote for Dullas, the Daily Mirror reported.

Earlier, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had offered his resignation after fleeing the country to Singapore. The president first flew to the Maldives after tens of thousands of protesters stormed his official residence in the capital Colombo.