Errors in polling cards issued to voters which led to many of those eligible being denied the right to vote at previous elections are recurring this time too with a number of complaints coming to election monitors that polling cards for the Western Provincial Council (WPC) elections contain errors.
Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) Spokesman Keerthi Tennakoon said a considerable number of complaints had been received that many polling cards issued contain errors.
“Several persons’ National Identity Card (NIC) numbers are stated incorrectly while the names of members of the same family are mixed up and the same surname has been written in different ways,” he said.
He said that during the previous elections, including at the recently held North Western Provincial Council elections, many voters were turned away from polling booths stating that their polling cards contained errors.
“Persons receiving poll cards with errors are asked to visit the relevant Grama Niladhari or a JP to obtain an affidavit proving their identity before voting day. It is not always a simple procedure in some instances and so some people tend not to vote,” he said.
People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) too had received complaints about polling cards with errors. “We request such complainants to inform the Assistant Elections Commissioner of the respective district about such errors”, PAFFREL deputy director Rohana Hettiarachchi said.
Elections Department Additional Commissioner W.P.Sumanasiri told The Sunday Times that his department admitted there were errors in polling cards and has informed all senior presiding officers (SPOs) to forward to the department all the poll cards with errors on them, after the voting.
“After receiving such poll cards the department will take steps to correct the errors and also inform the relevant voters,” he said.
With regard to the recent revelation that some voters had been registered twice at two different addresses, the department has been able to identify such double registration only within polling divisions in any one district.
Mr. Sumanasiri said that a special form would be given to those who have been registered twice and such person should fill the form and hand it over prior to voting.
According to him if a person has been registered at more than one address the department could take legal action against such person.
“We detected these double registrations after introducing a new data base programme and while the voter register for 2007 was being revised for 2008. All serial numbers (relating to voters’ names) with the same NIC number were thrown up in a computer printout showing a considerable number of double registrations,” he said.
He said if a person is registered in more than one district it would be a problem as it would be hard to detect. “We are providing the officers manning polling stations with the names of those who have double registrations and there would be a special mark in front of their names also in the voters’ list,” he said.
Mr. Sumanasiri said letters would be sent to those with duplicate registrations in the 2008 voters’ register, to inform the Department at which address they would wish to be registered. If no reply is received the address to which the polling cards would be sent would be determined by the department.
Meanwhile election monitors state that it is questionable whether this election would be a free and fair one.
“Double registration is a huge issue. Around 62,000 persons in the Western province have been registered more than once. This is one of the main reasons for the question to be raised as to whether the elections would be free and fair. We want to find out whether these double registrations were done purposely,” CaFFE spokesman Keerthi Tennakoon said.
He said that most political parties have known of this and instead of lodging complaints certain political parties lodged complaints at the Election Secretariat to the effect that some persons were deprived from voting, he said. |
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