Voters must have valid ID - PAFFREL

Hiran H.Senewiratne

The People’s Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL) emphasized the necessity of using the national identity card for voting in the forthcoming Southern Provincial Council Election, to be held on October 10. It is now necessary that voters prove their identity by producing an identity card at polling booths when casting votes at the Southern Provincial Council election.

The Elections Commissioner has made it compulsory to produce some form of identity card for voting, PAFFREL, Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi told the Daily News

The valid identity cards are National Identity Card issued by the Department of Registration of Persons, valid passport,Government Pension Identity Card, Senior Citizen’s Identity Card and Identity Card issued to clerics and clergy by the Department of Registrations of Persons.

He said that voters who do not possess any of the identity cards mentioned above, should meet the Grama Niladhari or the Estate Superintendent of the area with two black and white or colour photographs to obtain a temporary identity card.

The Elections Commissioner has stated that the railway pass will not be accepted this time as a valid identity card.

PAFFREL observed that during the last Uva Provincial Council Election a large number of voters were not able to cast their vote as they had no identity cards.

The PAFFREL has found that certain Tamil voters in the estate sector in Galle and Matara districts do not have even birth certificates to apply for national identity cards and the number of people without proper identity cards is unknown.

He said that the other issue is that most applications for national identity cards are still with Grama Niladaries. PAFFREL launched an awareness campaign throughout the Province covering all electorates on this matter.