During yesterday’s Western Provincial Council elections, several voters were not issued ballot papers and were turned away due to the errors that were made by officials manning the polling booths.
A few voters from Maligawatte who spoke to The Sunday Times complained that the Elections Department officers had made mistakes when entering identity card numbers in the electoral register.
One voter who was turned down lamented saying that he was not allowed to vote as his identity card number and the identity card number in the polling card did not tally.
In some cases the father’s identity card number and the son’s identity card number were interchanged in the polling cards.
Ajantha Herft who was one such voter told The Sunday Times that she had protested as her identity card number and her identity card number indicated in her polling card did not tally. “It is the duty of the Election Department officers to enter my identity card number correctly. When I went to vote, at first I was turned down. I then protested and asked the officials to check if my name was correctly stated in the electoral register. Finally I was allowed to vote as my name was correctly entered,” she said. |
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