In Sri Lanka, local government elections will be held on the 25th of April. The Election Commission of Sri Lanka said that the returning officers in their respective districts for the local government elections have issued a Gazette Notification to hold elections on the 25th of April.<br />'' <br />'' The Election Commission had asked the returning officers to make arrangements for holding the polls in April as they could not be held on the 9th of March. Earlier, Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe had told the Parliament last month that election dates were not official.<br />'' <br />''The polls to elect councillors to 340 local councils for a four-year term have been postponed since March last year due to the ongoing economic crisis. Opposition parties had been holding protests against the government's decision to postpone the elections. They had claimed that the ruling SLPP led by Rajapaksa wanted to defer the elections as they faced a crushing defeat.