300,000 officials on duty:

Elections Dept ready for August 17 polls

by P. Krishnaswamy

Following the Friday (26) dissolution of Parliament, Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said that his department is getting ready to hold the Parliamentary Elections on August 17.

Deshapriya told a media briefing at the Election Secretariat yesterday (27), that nominations will be accepted from July 6. Having received short notice, the Department is working on a hectic schedule and there are some other practical problems due to the GCE(A/L) and Grade 5 scholarship examinations also scheduled for mid August, he said.

The polls chief said this would make it difficult to secure some school premises as polling and counting centres, but the Department would try to overcome such logistical issues by making alternative arrangements.

The Elections Department has arranged with the Examinations Department to ensure that no examinations will be held from August 15 – 19, he said, adding that the Department has also requested the IGP not to effect any police transfers from August 6, until the elections are over.

Deposits of Rs.2,000 per candidate representing independent groups will be accepted from tomorrow (29) until July 13 while there will be no deposits from the 64 registered and recognised political parties, he said.

There is no ceiling on election expenditure and an estimated Rs.4,000 million may be required for all arrangements relating to the August 17 polls, he said. About 300,000 persons, including government officials and police personnel will be engaged in election duties, he said. He would meet secretaries or group leaders of political parties next Thursday to apprise them of the code of conduct to be observed at meetings and other events in the run-up to the elections. There are about 500,000 postal voters and applications for postal votes can be made from August 3 – 10, Elections Commissioner Deshapriya said.

The Elections Department has been vested with more powers under the 19th Amendment to the Constitution and therefore, will be in a position to act against violations of the election laws, Deshapriya said.

The use of national flags, religious flags, portraits of religious leaders and pictures of religious places at election rallies and processions amount to violations, he emphasized.

The use of offices of recognised political parties by independent groups in the run up to the elections will also not be permitted, he said.

Deshapriya said the Department will pay attention to the ‘paid news’ phenomenon in the guise of original news content to promote individual candidates. “We will take action against such attempts, based on complaints. We will also closely monitor the conduct of media houses, including those owned by candidates or relatives of candidates running for the elections,” Commissioner Deshapriya said.