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.
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