More than 1,650 illegal cut-outs and 450 illegal banners are still on display even though the deadline set by the Election Chief Dayananda Dissanayake for their removal had expired at 12:00 noon on Tuesday, a leading election monitoring group said yesterday.
People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said in a report that 229 large sized cut-outs 351 medium and 838 small cut-outs were of United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) candidates and displayed at different locations in the country.
PAFFREL said 32 large cut-outs of UPFA candidates were displayed in the Gampaha district alone.
It said United National Party (UNP) candidates had put up 19 large seized cut-outs, 36 medium and 186 small cut-outs through out the country with other political parties putting up 22 such cut-outs. With regard to banners, 362 were those of UPFA candidates while 100 were of UNP candidates.
Meanwhile Police Chief Mahinda Balasuriya had earlier said the police would not be able to remove all the cut-outs and banners, which had been put up in violation of election law, because there were so many of them.
The Elections Chief had allocated Rs.22 millions for the removal of illegal cut-outs and banners.