Batti polls: Police say peaceful, some people say not so

Residents of Batticaloa District have complained of incidents of post-election violence, following the announcement of results of the local polls held on March 10, although police say except for a few minor incidents, the post polls period has been peaceful. On Wednesday a vanload of TMVP armed cadres had reportedly driven to Poothur and Mandur and assaulted some supporters of the EPRLF, EPDP and PLOTE coalition which contested the elections as Independent Group 1.

A spokesperson for PLOTE said the victims were wary of lodging a formal complaint with the area police but they informed the Batticaloa DIG as well as the Senior Superintendent of Police who is in charge of the Batticaloa Special Task Force.

In another incident three vanloads of TMVP cadres led by a senior TMVP member identified as Shanthan had warned some Jaffna Tamils living in these same areas that they would have to leave Batticaloa if they could not co-operate with the TMVP, a resident of Poothur said.

Before the elections, Shanthan along with about 50 teenagers had reportedly gone to homes and shops in Poothur and had coerced them to vote for the TMVP.“They told us that everyone here should vote for them. If we didn’t we would have problems in future and that we should not come to them for assistance,” the resident went on to say.

However, Batiicaloa’s Senior Superintendent of Police H.A.K Nanayakara said the situation in Batticaloa was peaceful even after the elections.“We have not received any formal complaints of election violence. This is one of the most peaceful elections we have had in the country. We received 29 complaints of election related offences of which most of them were minor ones,” SSP Nanayakara said.

Batticaloa’s Assistant Elections Commissioner T. Krishnanandalingam told The Sunday Times they had received a few complaints against the TMVP from the EPDP, PLOTE and EPRLF coalition that contested as Independent group 1 and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC).

“We are looking into these complaints ,” he said. He said the complaints included buying polling cards from the outskirts of Batticaloa and forcibly taking polling cards from residents in Valachchainai, Poothur, Urani, Kokkadichcholai and Vakarai. There were also allegations that the TMVP had organized buses to take people to vote in favour of the party. The SLMC had also complained of a particular armed group terrorizing people in certain parts of Batticaloa.