PC polls:

Campaigning ends tonight

Rasika Somarathna

4All election related propaganda for the Central and Northwestern Provincial Council elections will end by midnight today, 48 hours prior to the polls date, the Election Secretariat said. The poll is scheduled to be held on Saturday.

All election related propaganda, such as displaying posters, distributing hand bills, political meetings etc. have been banned from midnight.

Meanwhile, the two main political parties in the contest the United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance and the United National Party have decided to hold their final major rallies in Kandy and Kurunegala.

The UPFA was scheduled to hold its final major rally yesterday in Kandy under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The UNP will hold its final meetings in Kandy and Kurunegala today under the leadership of its leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Meanwhile, election authorities said that voters who do not possess identification papers termed as valid by officials would not be issued a ballot paper.

The following ID documents have been confirmed as valid by the authorities - National ID, valid passport or Driving License, Postal ID, Railway Season ticket, Pensioners’ ID, Bhikku ID, Elders’ ID and the temporary ID specially issued for this election. Authorities said they had received around 57,000 applications so far in request of temporary IDs and have taken steps to issue IDs for all persons with valid documents.

Meanwhile, election watch dog PAFFREL said yesterday that they had only recorded 49 incidents so far in the run up to the polls, which they described as comparatively low in comparison with other such elections in the recent past.

PAFFREL said they would deploy around 2,800 monitors at the forthcoming elections and use mobile patrols as well as observers in all polling centres numbering 2,579. Police have also taken special measures to provide security at the polls. Around 15,000 police personnel would be deployed to maintain law and order.