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UNP faces snag in donning specs for CMC elections
By Nalaka Nonis
The United National Party’s hopes of donning the ‘spectacles’ for the May 22 local polls for the prestigious Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) faced a snag as nine members of the independent group under which it hoped to contest vowed to campaign separately, refusing to sacrifice their chances of being elected.

The UNP decided to enter the fray under the spectacle symbol of an independent group after the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the final appeal against the rejection of its nomination list for the CMC poll.
The rift sparked off after nine out of the 59 members from the spectacle group argued that they would face the poll rather than giving the opportunity to the UNP.

“We don’t want to sacrifice our chances of being elected to the council because of material gains”, Joe Fernando, a member of the group said.
The group has been assured of only three slots in return for allowing the UNP to contest under it.

The nine-member group alleged that its party leader accepted a huge amount of money to allow the UNP to contest under their symbol. They also alleged that their leader had given Rs. 10,000 each to the 50 candidates to withdraw after being elected. The Independent Group leader S. Rajendran denied the allegations saying that the faction was trying to sling mud at him. He claimed that certain parties with ulterior motives were conspiring to prevent the UNP from contesting under their symbol. He said the decision to let the UNP vie under their symbol was taken after mutual agreement.

Mr. Rajendran stated that the only intention of joining the UNP was to help it out of its present predicament. UNP members have been assigned a member each from the independent group to carry out their campaign and obtain the highest number of preferential votes to secure a place in the prestigious CMC.

UNP candidate and former CMC Chief Whip Titus Perera confirmed to The Sunday Times that his party had reached an agreement with the independent group to offer them three places in the Council.
The co-campaigning by some members has already begun.

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