Polls for 20 Local Bodies today

Rasika SOMARATHNA

COLOMBO: Elections will be held for 20 local councils today in the second phase of the March 30 local polls.

This was necessitated by legal challenges to nomination lists.

In all 1,071,551 voters will cast their votes to elect 312 local council members from among 2,768 candidates in the 20 local bodies.

Voting will be held from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. in 854 polling centres. There will 121 counting centres covering eight districts. This is only the second time that an election is being held on a Saturday.

There are 81 political parties and 53 Independent groups in the fray for today's mini poll.

Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said all arrangements have been made to conduct a free and fair poll. DIG (Elections) Gamini Navaratne told the Daily News that stringent action would be taken against violators of election laws and disruptive elements.

Among the prominent local bodies in the race today are the Colombo Municipal Council, Gampaha MC, Galle MC and Kalmunai MC.

However, the contest that will be keenly followed is the battle for the Colombo Municipal Council on which all major parties have placed heavy stakes.

The United National Party which have held power in the CMC for an uninterrupted 55 years is this time handicapped by the loss of its 'Elephant' symbol following the rejection of its nomination list and has entered the fray through a proxy Independent group running under the Spectacle symbol.

Other parties have disputed this practise and the Elections Commissioner said such substitutions are illegal under elections laws.

This has created an opportunity for a break in the long hold of power by the UNP over the CMC and the emergence of an alternative force to take the reins of this most coveted local body in the island.

The UPFA has nominated veteran politician Vasudeva Nanayakkara as its Mayoral candidate while the UNP has fielded one time Party General Secretary and heavyweight Sirisena Cooray although the party in a controversial move is using an Independent group.

In addition to the four Municipal Councils, the 20 local bodies that will to the polls today comprise three Urban Councils and 13 Pradeshiya Sabhas. Elections for the Vavuniya Urban Council and Vavuniya South(Sinhala) Pradeshiya Sabha has been postponed.

Although Local Government elections took place on March 30th, elections for these twenty two bodies had to be postponed due legal and security reasons.

The Urban Councils to which elections are held are Gampola, Wattegama and Kaththankudy and the Pradeshiya Sabhas are Seethawaka, Patha Hevaheta, Udapalata, Elpitiya, Korale Pattu West, Eravur, Naveethanveli, Pottuvil, Addalachchenai, Akkaraipattu, Ninthavur, Kobeigane and Balangoda.

PAFFREL, CMEV and the Diriya Foundation will monitor the elections.

The official results certified by the Polls Chief will be aired over radio and television. The first results are expected in the early hours of tomorrow.