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400,000 voters to be stripped again
By Nalaka Nonis
Several hundred thousand people who were stripped of their voting rights at the November 17 presidential election are likely to face the same fate at the local council elections in March next year.

Assistant Elections Commissioner Rasika Peiris told The Sunday Times the voters whose names had been deleted from the electoral register at the presidential election would not be able to vote at any election before May 31 next year when new lists are called for.

Local Government Minister Janaka Bandara Tennekoon said elections to local councils would be held soon after their terms expired in March and Mr. Peiris said the controversial 2005 electoral register would have to be used for the local polls also.

The Asst. Commissioner said there was no legal provision to include those who had been left out before May 31 next year. The disclosure came as the UNP officially notified the Elections Commissioner that an estimated 400,000 voters had been deliberately left out of the voters list for the presidential election.

Mr. Peiris said the Elections Department believed the voters should have acted with responsibility by checking whether their names were on the electoral lists which were displayed every year.

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