Campaigning ends today

The curtain will fall on all campaigning in the Uva Provincial election today. The poll is scheduled for Saturday.

The Uva Provincial Council will have 34 members (including the two bonus seats). Badulla district will elect 18 members and Moneragala district 14 members. A total of 942,730 (609,966 in Badulla and 332,764 in Moneragala) registered voters will be eligible to cast their ballot at Saturday’s poll.

According to sources at the Election Commissioner’s Office, all measures have been taken to ensure a free and fair election.

The Elections Commissioner has informed all parties that no banners, cut outs or posters will be allowed on display from midnight tomorrow. Political parties should also close down all temporary party offices set up during the campaign period.

The Election Department officials together with the Police will be on the look out for violators of elections laws, department sources said.

At the last Uva PC election, Badulla district elected 21 members and Monergala elected 11 members. As per the census in 2013, Monaragala district has a population of 448,194 and Badulla 811,225. Badulla has a land extent of 2,861 square km and Moneragala 5,639 square km. Accordingly, Badulla has been allocated 18 seats while Moneragala has been allocated 14.

The Elections Department officials hope to release the first result by midnight on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya states in a release that complaints are being received to the effect that recorded propaganda messages of candidates contesting in the elections are transmitted through telephones of various telephone networks.

The release added: “Complaints are also being received about SMS messages that are being sent. The complaints state further that the transmission of such messages to subscribers without their consent is an obstruction to the conduct of a free and fair election. All candidates and their supporters are requested to refrain from such propaganda activities without the consent of the subscribers as they are detrimental to the subscribers’ personal freedom. Such propaganda during the 48 hour period before the poll will be treated as contravention of election laws.

“It is further notified that action is being taken to inform all fixed line and mobile service providers to abstain from transmitting such organised recorded messages or SMS messages to subscribers without their consent or their prior knowledge.”

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