Elections Dept. begins voter registration

By Shelani Perera

The Elections Department has begun the distribution of voter registration forms and is to announce this week steps to be followed by voters if they do not get their forms, Assistant commissioner P. M. Siriwardena said. He said the polls chief would announce the measures at a news conference this week and said most voters should receive their forms by next week.

He said there could be delays in the distribution of forms in some areas where there was a shortage of Grama Sevakas. Mr. Siriwardena said the Department had extended the time period for completion of registers to the North and East until mid October.

“The department has informed the Jaffna Government Agent to follow the names in the 2006 register. The GA is also given a sketch of a register, where the additions are made. He can compare the names from the 2006 register, when his officers visit the homes,” he said.

Mr. Siriwardena also said a similar process was being followed in registering internally displaced people who were living in camps in Puttalam and Vavuniya. However, he said they would not send voter registration forms to Vakarai until the government completed the resettlement of IDPs in the area.