Discovered ballot papers cause for concern-Karu

By Lashane Cooray-Tuesday, 29 Jan 2013

The discovery of 430 valid ballot papers in the vicinity of a school in the Gampaha district, used in the 2010 Presidential election, is a cause for great concern, especially since these ballot papers belong to the Nuwara Eliya District, Gampaha District MP and former UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya, stated.

Addressing the media in Kirulapone, Jayasuriya said, “We also have in our possession 64 ballot papers that were found in a canal near the Technical College, Ratnapura, adding the ballot papers that have been burned in several places to this number, gives us cause to wonder at a hidden agenda behind these grave incidents. The government had claimed these papers were just samples when asked. First the government said they were samples, and then they said they were papers that had been invalidated, after we had sought a professional opinion to confirm the authenticity of these papers and had presented our findings,” Jayasuriya said.

“When such underhand dealings are witnessed, we as democratic people must stress the need for independent, unbiased elections. We ask the current election commissioner to be very strict about such issues. This is an election year, and the faith of the people on the system must not be lost,” he said, alleging irregularities had taken place in the last Presidential election as well, quoting examples from several districts.

“In the Anuradhapura district, the Returning Officer reported 78%, while the final district result for Anuradhapura was 78.35%. The same irregularities can be seen in Polonnaruwa, Moneragala, Badulla and Galle districts. These are problems that must be looked into,” Jayasuriya said. (Ceylon Today Online)

SF raises ballot paper issue with polls chief

TUESDAY, 29 JANUARY 2013

Democratic National Alliance Leader (DNA) Sarath Fonseka today raised issue with Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya regarding the 500 ballot papers found discarded near Kalagedihena.

Mr. Fonseka also asked Mr. Deshapriya about the non-registration of his party and said it was the Elections Commissioner who should ensure democracy in the country by permitting the DNA to be registered as political party.

He told the media that there was a court case pending with regard to the ballot papers marked with the ‘swan’ symbol found near a school at Kalagedihena.

Mr. Fonseka said until the court decides otherwise he still believed that the incident was connected to the robbing of the ballot papers.

Speaking about the registration of his party the Democratic National Alliance, Mr. Fonseka said though the Commissioner had requested for audit reports they don’t have any because it is a new political party. He said it had been more than three years since they applied for registration as a political party and added that the matter has been referred to the Human Rights Commission as well.

The Election Chief also expressed regret over the incident where marked ballot papers were found near a school. He said two committees had been appointed to investigate how such an incident occurred and to recommend ways of preventing this type of incident happening again. (Sarasi Paranamanna & Darshana Sanjeewa)