Voting rights of thousands in Kilinochchi and Jaffna districts are at stake due to the lack of manpower in updating the voters’ registers and lack of coordination between Government departments, officials said. Since the commencement of the revision of electoral registers on June 1 throughout the country, the task of registering more than 65,000 resettled internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kilinochchi has been entrusted to Grama Niladharis with little progress being made, they said.
Although there are 95 Grama Niladhari divisions in Kilinochchi district most of the divisions do not have any Grama Niladharis as many vacancies have not been filled.
Kilinochchi Special Elections Office Commissioner A.S. Karunanidhi said that the reason for the lack of staff was because no new appointments have been made by the Government for vacant positions.
“The Elections Commissioner is not responsible for the appointments of staff. The appointments are done by the Ministry of Public Administration and we deploy the officers to various locations,” he said.
According to Campaign for Fair and Free Elections (CAFFE) Director Keerthi Tennakoon the cause for this problem is the lack of coordination between the two departments.
“Even though Grama Niladharis do the voter registration and work under the Election Commissioner, their appointment is done by the Ministry of Public Administration. The system would be more efficient if the appointments are done by the Elections Department itself,” Mr. Tennakoon said.
In Colombo district, in order to boost the process of voter registration, additional staff is deployed by the Government to assist the Grama Niladharis to collect information.
When asked about the possibility of deploying such staff in Kilinochchi district, Mr. Karunanidhi said that it was not in his power to appoint them.
“We cannot appoint such officers. It is the job of the Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry,” he said.
Apart from these shortcomings, the national identity card (NIC) number is not compulsory for voter registration in Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts, unlike other in parts of the country where the NIC number is an essential criteria for registration of voters.
This can lead to situations in which there might be double registrations of the same person. As a result registration of voters without the national identity number can be misused at the time of elections as a person can be registered in different parts of Jaffna or Kilinochchi districts.
“There are also instances of people who have migrated to other parts of the country and do not wish to return to the North, not registering themselves at all. This is because of the lengthy process they have to undergo in going back to their original place of residence and removing their name and then registering at their new place of residence.”
Thus, there are possibilities of manipulation of the electoral process if the NIC number is not made compulsory in registering new voters. “We are registering voters, without the NIC number because most of the voters do not have identity cards. If we do not include them in the voters’ register, then it would be a human rights violation. They have a right to vote and participate in the elections even if they do not posses identity cards,” Mr. Karunanidhi said.
He also said that some people are not interested in getting NICs and that was an additional cause of delay.
Most people in Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts are not aware of the importance of possessing NICs. Therefore, people should be made aware of the importance of possessing identity cards, he said. According to Mr. Karunanidhi, the deadline for the registration of voters has been extended till September in Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts.
With a lack of Grama Niladharis, it remains to be seen how they could complete the registration of voters in the event of an important election. |
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