PC elections on September 8

Rasika SOMARATHNA

The polls to elect members for the North Central, Eastern and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Councils will be held on September 8, the Elections Secretariat announced yesterday.

The accepting of nominations for the three Provincial Councils ended at noon yesterday with a large number of political parties and independent groups filing nominations.

Altogether 3,073 candidates from all three provinces will contest 108 seats in the three Provincial Councils.

Election authorities said several nomination papers filed by political parties and independent groups were rejected due to anomalies. However, nominations filed by major political parties were not among them.

In the Anuradhapura district (North Central Province) 336 candidates from nine political parties and five independent groups are in the fray. The number of candidates to be elected from the district is 21.

Among the main political parties that filed nominations for the district are the UPFA, UNP and the JVP. From the Polonnaruwa district (North Central Province) 208 candidates are contesting from nine political parties and seven independent groups for 10 seats in the Council.

In the Ratnapura district (Sabaragamuwa province) 513 candidates from 13 political parties and six independent groups filed nominations to contest for 24 seats in the council.

In Kegalle (Sabaragamuwa Province) the nominations of 13 political parties and 13 independent groups had been accepted by election authorities.

Our correspondents said one nomination paper filed by an independent group had been rejected.

From the district 546 candidates will contest for 18 seats’in at Sabaragamuwa provincial council. In the Trincomalee district (eastern province) 16 political parties and 16 independent groups have filed nominations. A total of 416 candidates are in the fray in contention for 10 slots in the Eastern PC. In the Ampara district (eastern province) 595 candidates are in the fray for 14 seats in the council from16 political parties and 19 independent groups. In Batticaloa (eastern province) 13 political parties and 21 independent groups have filed nominations. The number of contesting candidates are 476 and the members to be elected from the district to eastern PC is 11.

Among other parties the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) handed over its nominations list for the upcoming elections for the three provincial councils yesterday.