In contrast to the widespread violence and violation of election laws during the campaign, the provincial council election day, yesterday, was fairly peaceful with voters turning up in large numbers – not fearfully, but enthusiastically.
Though election day itself was peaceful, the night before was a nightmare with several incidents of gangs grabbing identity cards from people, apparently to prevent them voting.
Yesterday, a few incidents were reported, but they had little or no influence on the polling – and election officials said they had done their best to ensure a free and fair poll.
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| Large numbers turned up to vote inspite of a violent run-up to the polls. |
Tight security was maintained from early morning but later in the day, a few incidents took place, partly due to a reduction in security patrolling. Supporters of some parties were seen moving in convoys carrying banners and flags.
However, on the night before the elections, many voters complained to police that their National Identity Cards had been forcibly taken away by some thugs.
At Kuruduwewa in Thalawa, some 20 people who said they were UNP supporters lodged complaints with the police that armed gangs had stormed their houses at night and taken their identity cards away. Padmaseeli Kasthuriratna, 52, told the Sunday Times that a gang had come to her house and banged on the door. When she refused to open the door, they broke open the window and set off an Ali Don fire cracker normally used to drive away elephants, she said. Ms. Kasthuriratna said the gang later broke open the front door, got into the house and took away the identity cards of the family members. Shantha Gunasekara of the same area said a gang armed with swords had come to his house and demanded his identity card, but he refused to give his identity card. He later learnt that the gang had taken away the identity cards of the neigbours.
Several such incidents of identity cards being forcibly being taken were reported from the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa districts.
In some remote areas of the province, state vehicles were seen with their tyres deflated by villagers who had placed planks with nails on the road. This was apparently done to prevent gangs from using these vehicles to intimidate voters or grab identity cards.
NCP strongman and senior minister Maithripala Sirisena accused the JVP of causing the deflation of the tyres but the party denied the charge.
As polls ended, UNP chief ministerial candidate Janaka Perera charged that UPFA thugs had intimidated voters and tried to prevent them from voting by taking away their identity cards.
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| Padmaseeli Kasthuriratna stands in front of her damaged house in Thalawa and (below) some others in Thalawa whose NICs were forcibly taken from them. |
“The area police worked as if they were President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Police and not a National police force. If not for the presence of the army and some police officers from other areas, the situation would have been worse,” Maj. Gen. Perera said.
He expressed confidence the UNP would win the elections, despite the intimidation.
UPFA’s chief ministerial candidate Berty Premalal Dissanayaka also said his party party was confident of winning the elections which he described as being free and fair.
JVP Chief Ministerial candidate Wasantha Samarasinghe said his party was hopeful of winning several seats and would play a major role in developing the province.
In most booths of the two districts, a high turnout was reported in the first four hours of polling, in contrast to previous elections where the turnout picked up in the last few hours.
Election monitors said most people might have voted early because they feared there would be violence later in the day while younger voters showed their enthusiasm by going to the booths early.
My house was not a brothel, but party office
UNP woman petitions SC, says arrest politically motivated
By Telles Anandappa
A female UNP supporter has petitioned the Supreme Court alleging that the police arrested her on trumped-up charges of running a brothel to prevent her from contesting the North Central provincial polls that were held yesterday.
The Fundamental Rights petition filed by UNP activist Kamani Priyantha Kularatne, another woman and a 14-year-old girl cited Polonnaruwa Police Inspector H.M. Piyasena and a woman constable, among others as respondents.
Ms. Kularatne said she and her family members were active supporters of the UNP in the Polonnaruwa District and they are being harassed by the police because of their political affiliation to the party. She claimed that on a previous occasion, her brother was arrested by the Welikanda Police on false charges and released.
Ms. Kularatne said that after the dissolution of the North Central Provincial Council in May, she set up a party office in her house in preparation for the campaign as she was hoping to contest the polls from the Polonnaruwa district. She said the area people visited her to pledge their support for the party.
A few days after she set up the party office, a team of police officers visited the premises, carried out a search without a warrant, and arrested her and others present at the house at the time, Ms. Kularatne said, adding that among those arrested were a Buddhist monk and his disabled aunt.
She said they were produced before the Polonnaruwa Magistrate on a false charge that they were operating a brothel.
The magistrate released the monk and his aunt but remanded her, along with another woman and a 14-year-old girl. The teenager, who was a fellow petitioner, was sent to an orphanage.Ms. Kularatne said that the arrest and detention were politically motivated and a violation of her fundamental rigts.
The petitioners’ lawyer, J.C. Weliamuna, sought permission from court to obtain an affidavit from the teenager and produce it in Court.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Sarath N Silva and Justices Gamini Amaratunge and K Sripavan directed Senior State Council Riyaz Hamza to take notice and get instructions whether the girl could be handed over to a guardian. | 
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