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Discrepancies in papers:
LG poll: 450 nominations rejected
Chaminda PERERA
The Elections Department rejected 450 out of 2,047 nominations
submitted by recognized political parties and independent groups on
Thursday due to a number of discrepancies in the nomination papers.
This is the first time that the Elections Department rejected such a
large number of nomination lists from recognized political parties
including the ruling UPFA.
Department sources told the Daily News that 16 nomination papers for
the Jaffna Municipal Council and many other local Government authorities
in the district were rejected by the Assistant Elections Commission due
to translation error in the nomination list.
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UPFA to seek SC
ruling |
| Public
Administration and Home Affairs Minister W D J Seneviratne
yesterday said the UPFA will seek a Supreme Court ruling over
the rejection of several nomination lists by Elections
Department. “We will seek a Supreme Court ruling over the
rejection of UPFA nomination lists as quite a large number of
people are denied of their right to exercise franchise,” he
added. When asked who should be responsible for the nomination
paper fiasco, the Minister said the lawyers appointed to the
districts should be responsible to some extent. |
The highest number of nomination lists from recognized political
parties and independent groups were rejected in the Jaffna and Ampara
districts.
Sixteen nomination lists from the Kurunegala district and 14
nomination papers from Matale district did not receive endorsement while
42 independent groups from the Ampara district and 32 nomination papers
from Gampaha district failed to gain the muster yesterday.
Forty two nominations lists of independent groups in the Ampara
district and 32 lists from the Gampaha district failed to go through
Thursday.
The department accepted the highest number of nomination papers of
recognized political parties from the Kurunegala, Gampaha and Kalutara
districts while the highest number of independent groups are vying in
the Ampara and Kalutara districts.
Eighty one recognized political parties and 49 independent groups are
vying for 19 local Government bodies in the Kurunegala and Ampara
districts.
Meanwhile, the Elections Department yesterday extended the date of
accepting the postal voting application from January 27 to January 31.
Meanwhile the Police Department yesterday said a comprehensive
security arrangement will be in place islandwide as 1,232 teams
representing recognized political parties and 463 independent groups
enter the campaign to win 3,931 slots in the Local Government
Institutions.
A special unit will be set up in each Police station to monitor the
election campaign in the police division and inquire into the complaints
of election violence.
This unit is directly coordinated by the election branch of the Sri
Lanka Police based at the Police Headquarters. According to Police
spokesman SP Priyasath Jayakody, no major incidents were reported to the
Police since the acceptance of nomination ended at noon on Thursday.
He said adequate security will be provided to election rallies. “The
Police Department is bound to provide security when approval is given
for the use of loudspeakers for a rally or election meeting”, SP
Jayakody added. |
