By Ifham Nizam
Despite regulations not to use state vehicles for propaganda under the election laws, some 30 state owned vehicles were being used by contestants, an election monitoring organization said.
People's Action for Free and Fair Elections’ (PAFFREL) Rohana Hettiarachchi told Ceylon Today the 30 cars were fully decorated and covered with stickers. “This cannot be expected or allowed even under the existing traffic laws,’ he said.
He said he visited the place in Anuradhapura and informed the Elections Secretariat, Police and the candidate’s political party, however, nothing had been done to date.
The PAFFREL Chief said the Elections Commissioner and the Police had done a wonderful job in comparison to the previous elections, however, some violations of election laws is continuing to take place particularly in the North Central Province.
He said they witnessed a candidate in Anuradhapura conducting an awareness campaign attracting more than 10,000 people. He said such programmes cannot be entertained as they too constitute propaganda and action needs to be taken.
Meanwhile, according to DIG Elections, Gamini Navaratne, Police have arrested 11 people for violating election laws related to the upcoming provincial council elections. The arrests were made after receiving several complaints, according to a police official.
According to the DIG, the Police have received 14 complaints to date regarding election law violations, and most of the complaints were related to threats and unlawful propaganda.
Meanwhile, PAFFREL has received complaints of more than 30 incidents of election related violence from the three provinces.
