Call to annul Puttalam results
By Stanley Samarasinghe-Tuesday, 01 Oct 2013
Leader
of the Jana Setha Peramuna, Ven. Battaramulle Seelarathana Thera,
yesterday filed a writ petition in the Court of Appeal, requesting to
issue a Certiorari Mandamus to quash the final preferential vote results
of the Puttalam District, announced on 22.09.2013.The petitioner also
requested the Court to issue a mandate in the nature of a Writ of
Mandamus directing the first, second, third and fourth respondents to
recount the preferential votes of all candidates and to order the
Commissioner of Elections to hold a new election.
Commissioner of Elections, Mahinda Deshapriya, the Assistant
Commissioner of Elections, M. Kingsley Fernando, the District Secretary,
Returning Officer for Divisional Secretariat, K. Sumith Chandana, the
Assistant Returning Officer, the Divisional Secretariat Officer,
Puttalam and Secretaries of the political parties have been cited as
respondents in this petition.
According to petitioner Ven. Seelaratana Thera, he filed the petition in
respect of the infringement of the rights for a fair and accurate
counting of the preferential vote guaranteed by the election laws of Sri
Lanka, which was a result of the administrative action and the
negligence of duty of the first, second, third and fourth respondents.
The petitioner stated 19 candidates of his party contested the recently
held North-Western Provincial Council election and they were affected
due to the irregularities caused when counting of votes in the Puttlam
District.
Over 5,000 official marked ballot papers were found at the election
counting centre No. 5, at St. Andrew's College, Puttalam and they have
been taken into the CID custody and produced in the Puttalam
Magistrate's Court.
TUESDAY, 01 OCTOBER 2013 
A
request made by former Inter University Students Federation (IUSF)
convener Sanjeewa Bandara to enter universities was refused by Colombo
Fort Magistrate today.