News
The hills are alive with campaigns with estate sector to play key role
View(s):By Sandun Jayawardena in Kandy
With over 2.2 million registered voters spread across its three districts, the Central Province is a major battleground for candidates contesting the upcoming election. The estate community is likely to play a vital role in electing the ultimate victor in the province and various political parties in the estate sector are already hard at work promoting their preferred candidate.
Thilina Bandara Tennakoon
KANDY DISTRICT
More than 1.1 million voters in the Kandy district are eligible to go to the polls on September 21 and victory in the district will go a long way towards securing the presidency. Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the district with 50% of the total valid votes in 2019, with Sajith Premadasa coming in second with 44%. This time, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) is confident that Mr. Premadasa is poised to win all polling divisions in the district. The Sunday Times was there when Mr. Premadasa attended a large campaign rally in Kandy town on Monday (9), where then State Minister and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP Geetha Kumarasinghe also took the stage to pledge support to Mr Premadasa’s candidacy. She was subsequently sacked by President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The SJB had been reorganising over the past 4½ years since losing the last presidential poll and is now at its peak, former Central Province Minister and the party’s Patha-Dumbara organiser Thilina Bandara Tennakoon told the Sunday Times. “Many from the United National Party (UNP), the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) too have joined us. Even when Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the presidency in 2019, we still won six polling divisions in the district. We are now in a strong position to win all 13.”
Mr. Tennakoon dismissed claims that the NPP was the one to beat as “a myth” and expressed confidence that Mr. Premadasa would emerge victorious in the first round without any need of having to count ballots with a second preference.
Former Provincial Council member Doraiswamy Mathiyugarajaha told the Sunday Times that there is considerable support from the estate sector for Mr. Premadasa as he has pledged to raise the living conditions of the estate sector population and give them a plot of land. The campaign of independent candidate President Ranil Wickremesinghe “has improved” in the lead-up to the election, former Central Province Minister and UNP member Shanthini Kongahage said. She added that they were continuing to educate voters on how the President’s economic programme is leading the way towards economic recovery and how he intends to continue with it.
“When we go door-to-door, we feel that people are very confident about voting for Ranil Wickremesinghe because they know the difficulties they underwent. Especially, the senior citizens are confident about voting for Ranil because they feel he is an experienced person and his international relations are very strong. He has an advantage over the other two main candidates in that Sajith Premadasa contested for the presidency and lost while Anura Dissanayake is a newcomer and people don’t want to take the risk of experiencing after what they went through with Gotabaya Rajapaksa,” she opined.
S.M. Nazeer
MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage told the Sunday Times that they were campaigning for President Wickremesinghe and they were confident of a victory in the Kandy district.
In Kandy town, Jayantha Hettiarachchi (65), who works as a tourist guide near the Dalada Maligawa, said he intends to vote for Mr Premadasa as the SJB candidate “works for the poor.” He was critical of the present government, which he said hasn’t done anything for people such as himself.
Trishaw driver Supun Viraj (35) said his family had seven registered voters but none of them intended to vote at this year’s election. “What’s the point? All the politicians do is make empty promises. Our economy is in shambles and we sometimes get by on two meals a day now. Educating my children has become so difficult owing to our economic situation. Whenever people come canvassing to our door, we chase them away because they disgust us,” said Mr Viraj.
Mother-of-three Nilanthi Sarojini (47) is a pavement hawker working next to the Nuwara Wewa. She admitted she and others around her were there illegally but said they had no other option in order to survive. “The Municipal Council does not give us a permit to operate. We are prepared to pay too if only they would give us a permit we can renew. As of now, we sometimes get chased away by the authorities, while we also don’t get to do business on rainy days since we don’t have any roofs for our stalls. On such days, we all go hungry.”
Ms Sarojini, who has a 21-year-old daughter and two sons, aged 18 and 15, said her stall was her only means of livelihood and is hopeful that Sajith Premadasa will become President and work towards making lives of people like her a little easier.
Cosmetics shop owner and father-of-three S.M. Nazeer (64) said he used to employ three people at his shop but is now forced to run it by himself as his income has plummeted since the economic crisis. He said he had been unable to make up his mind for a while on whether to vote for Mr. Premadasa or Mr. Dissanayake but had now settled on the former owing to his father having a track record of working for the poor when he was President. “Sajith is cut from the same cloth, so perhaps he will do the same. Anyway, I won’t be sad even if Anura becomes President. What we need is a change in government.”
MATALE DISTRICT
Nilanthi Sarojini
Supporters of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and National People’s Power Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake are canvassing hard for every vote in the Matale District. In their enthusiasm, supporters of all major candidates have violated election laws, but Election Commission officials and police have taken action to stop such violations.
A total of 429, 991 voters in the Matale district are eligible to cast their ballots at the upcoming election, District Secretary and Returning Officer Thejani Thilakaratne said. The district has four polling divisions; Dambulla (151, 373 registered voters), Rattota (104, 856 registered voters), Matale (95, 644 registered voters) and Laggala (78, 118 registered voters).
Three Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MPs in the district, State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon, former Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon and State Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Rohana Dissanayake are backing Mr Wickremesinghe. They are also joined by a large number of former provincial councilors and local government members. The only SLPP MP in the district supporting Namal Rajapaksa’s candidacy is Nalaka Bandara Kottegoda. However, Mr Kottegoda faced protests from a section of SLPP supporters during a recent campaign rally in Rattota.
SJB MP Rohini Kaviratne as well as former MPs Wasantha Aluwihare, Ranjith Aluwihare, former SLFP MP Lakshman Wasantha Perera and former Minister Nandimithra Ekanayake are supporting Mr Premadasa’s election bid.
NUWARA ELIYA DISTRICT
With 605,292 votes on offer in the four polling divisions, the main focus has been votes of the estate sector.
The main candidates have been following the decisions taken by the political parties representing the estate community. The recent issue of the wages of estate workers has been one of the key issues which could be a decisive factor in the vote.
Tamil parties backing the Samagi Jana Balawegaya insist that the workers have not been given the promised wage increase while the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) backing independent candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe have vowed to secure the increase granted.
The Nuwara Eliya – Maskeliya electorate with 347,646 votes, considered the electorate with the largest number of voters in an electorate has been the focus of the campaign though attention is also being paid at the Kotmale, Hanguranketha and Walapane electorates.
Additional reporting: B.G. Chathuranga (Anuradhapura), Nimal Jayaratne (Polonnaruwa) Shane Seneviratne (Kandy) Mahesh Keerthiratne (Matale) and Shelton Hettiaarachchi
(Nuwara Eliya)
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