DailyMirror
The hectic 39 day general election campaign marred not by inter-party violence as usual but by home and home rivalry comes to an end at 12.00 midnight today, amidst police warnings that strict legal action will be taken against individuals who possess illegal fire arms.
“Strict legal action will be taken against individuals who possess illegal fire arms. The police have already commenced investigations to probe such allegations and arrest the suspects,” Head of the Police Elections Desk DIG Gamini Navaratne said.
The Police Elections Desk has so far received 274 complaints related to election violence and in regard 244 suspects has been arrested for violating the elections law, head of the police elections desk senior DIG Navaratne said.
“We are seeking the help of each candidate in order to arrest nearly 200 individuals who are wanted by the police for violating the elections law”, he said.
Speaking about the removal of election propaganda material that violates election law he said it is steadily progressing and nearly half of the propaganda materials have been already been removed.
All the elections related propaganda materials will be removed during the period 6 am, April 4 and April 6 midnight.
“We as the police have advised all the relevant parties and candidates to prevent such incidents and advise their supporters not to engage in violating the prevailing election laws”, he said.
The police have deployed mobile road blocks and extra policemen to areas that have been identified as hot spots where government and the opposition have strong presence, he said while speaking about the preparations taken by the police to prevent elections violence prior to the voting day and the post election period.
“Since they are more than 7620 candidates representing 36 parties and 306 independent groups are contesting the elections it is impossible to remove the entire election propaganda materials put by them,” he said.
Laborers together with the help of policemen had been deployed for the purposes of removing elections propaganda materials are different from each station. The labor force is used to balance if there is any shortage, DIG Navaratne said.
Most of the incidents reported were where supporters of major political parties engage in removing or tearing down cut-outs, banners and other election propaganda material, DIG Navaratne said.
The police commenced an island wide campaign to remove all political posters, banners and cut outs following a directive issued by the Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayaka.
The Elections Commissioner allocated Rs.22 million for this purpose on a request made by the police department with the kick off of the elections campaigning.
The police will get the assistance of the three armed forces to maintain law and order during the this month’s general election on the 8th since a large number of candidates are in the fray.
Final rallies
The UPFA will wind up its election campaign with a public rally at Middeniya in the Hambantota district with the participation of President Rajapaksa this afternoon, while the main opposition UNP will conclude its election campaign by holding a meeting headed by party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at Kosgashandiya (Grandpas) in Colombo 14.
The DNA will hold its final election rally at Hulftsdorp, Colombo 12 today with the participation of the party leaders.
Deputy Mayor injured
Deputy Mayor of the UPFA controlled Ampara Urban Council Saman Morayas and a few others were injured during a clash between the supporters of UPFA Candidate for the Digamadulla district Ferial Ashraff and Sarath Weerasekara in the Ampara town yesterday.
Mr. Morayas was rushed to the Ampara hospital after the incident. According to hospital sources, he had developed breathing problems after the assault on him.
Land Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council Wimalaweera Dissanayake who was an eyewitness to the incident told Daily Mirror that a businessman and a medical doctor were among the injured.
“I was informed about this incident. Then, I rushed to the scene. The angry supporters surrounded my vehicle and tried to manhandle me. If not for my security personnel, they would have assaulted me,” Mr. Dissanayake said.
He expressed fears whether the situation would take a turn for the worse within the next couple of days ahead of the election.
During the past few weeks, intra-party violence has escalated in the Digamadulla District.
Meanwhile, the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said that the Thambuttegama residence of JVP candidate for the Anuradhapura District Wasantha Samarasinghe and the party’s Matara office had been attacked on Sunday night.