Nominations for PC elections close

By Ranil Wijayapala

The Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya fixed September 21 as the date for the elections for the Central, Northern and North Western Provincial Councils as the filing of nominations were closed at 12 noon on Thursday (August 1) after the District Returning Officers accepted 201 nomination lists from recognised political parties and Independent groups in 10 districts.

Accordingly, 126 nomination lists by the recognised political parties and 75 nomination lists from Independent groups were accepted by the district Returning Officers in the Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Kurunegala and Puttalam districts. Nine nomination lists, five from the recognised political parties and four from the Independent Groups were rejected by the Returning Officers.

According to the Elections Department, elections to the three Provincial Councils will be held on September 21 to elect 56 Members to the Central Provincial Council, 36 Members to the Northern Provincial Council and 50 Members to the North Western Provincial Council.

Therefore, 3785 candidates (2279 from recognised political parties and 1506 from the Independent groups) will be in the fray at the September 21 elections. According to the electoral registry 4,358,263 voters from all three Provincial Councils are eligible to cast their votes.

The highest number of candidates contesting the elections are from the Kurunegala district as 13 political parties and 12 Independent groups are contesting the 50 seats in the North Western Provincial Council. The highest number of nomination lists from the recognised political parties have been reported from the Kandy district as 17 political parties have filed their nominations to contest the 29 seats in the Kandy district.

The United People's Freedom Alliance, United National Party, People's Liberation Front, Janasetha Peramuna, Democratic Party, Sri Lanka Labour Party are among the recognised political parties which have filed nominations for all 10 districts in the three Provincial Councils.

In the Northern Provincial Council the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi is contesting all five districts in the Jaffna district.

The entry of former UNP MP Dayasiri Jayasekara to the North Western Provincial Council election from the Kurunegala district, and the entry of Retired High Court Judge P.B Warawewa to contest the Central Provincial Council election from the Kandy district are some of the main highlights in the nominations.

The non inclusion of the former LTTE member Velayutham Dayanithi alias Daya Master in the UPFA nominations list was highlighted.