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Candidates and parties whose nominations have been rejected are moving for a postponement of the polls, citing complications in regulations which prevented them from contesting.
A record 130 nomination lists - 70 independent groups, 32 JVP, 10 UNP and 4 PA groups -were rejected due to non-compliance with regulations as regards youth candidates between the ages of 18 and 35.
PA General Secretary D.M. Jayaratne said the party would not object to any of its members whose nominations were rejected filing action and in the event cases are filed, there was a possibility of elections being postponed and fresh nominations called for the respective councils.
Former Kotte UC Chairman Chandra Silva of the PA has already filed action in the Court of Appeal after the PA list for the area was rejected.
UNP spokesman Sarath Amunugama said the party would be submitting appeals within 10 days over the rejection of the nomination lists.
'The regulations are a little too tight for those who are under 35. Some regulations are not clear," he said.
Dr. Amunugama said they were not complaining about the principles of the regulations, but that they should have been simple and clear.
Among the UNP nomination lists rejected were those for the Badulla Muncipal Council where the party has been in office for several years.
A spokesman for the JVP said that at least in one of the cases the party nomination papers had been rejected due to the failure of an official to sign a document and it was not their fault. He said in most instances the nominations were rejected due to the problems regarding youth candidates.
Meanwhile, Elections Department officials said the main reason for the rejection of most nomination papers was that some of the youth candidates were either below or above the age while others did not have proper birth certificates or affidavits in support of their age.
By Christopher Kamalendran and Arshad M. Hadjirin
Police backed by troops opened fire and used tear gas at crowds which went on a rampage after the funeral of the slain Nalanda Ellawala yesterday.
The crowds attacked the police station and set fire to shops, forcing the authorities to impose a night curfew.
At least one person was reported killed and more than 150 injured in the firing and the stampede soon after the funeral attended by around 100,000 people at the Ratnapura public esplanade. About 35 people were admitted to hospital, officials said after the funeral.
Sporadic street battles erupted at the tail end of the funeral proceedings when the police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd which was setting fire to a building in the heart of the town. The crowds then attacked the police with stones and damaged several vehicles.
Police firing tear gas were forced to open fire at the mobs to control the situation, but thousands of others were affected by the action. After the funeral thousands of persons were stranded, unable to move away from the scene.
Crowds also set fire to one of the main buildings which had been earlier partially burnt, in addition to a petrol shed and a studio in the town.
Earlier in the day hundreds of policemen and soldiers drawn in from outstations were deployed in the city as crowds started pouring in to attend the funeral. They came from all parts of the country, including Polonnaruwa, Ampara and Hambantota.
Nalanda's mother Surangani Ellawala made a personal appeal during the funeral for the people to remain calm as a mark of respect to her son.
A private television crew was attacked by some people and their TV cameras were damaged while a crew member was injured.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga paid her respects to Mr. Ellawala at the Ellawala ancestral home in Batugedera. Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike who went to Ratnapura yesterday morning was present at the funeral.
Speaker K. B. Ratnayake and Education Minister Richard Pathirana gave funeral orations while Provincial Councillor Mohan Ellawala spoke on behalf of the family.
Meanwhile as the crowds gathered in Ratnapura yesterday for the funeral of Mr. Nalanda Ellawala, hundreds of UNP supporters were fleeing the city in fear of further revenge attacks.
UNP sources said the party would seek up to Rs. 300 million as compensation from the Government for buildings and property damaged by mobs after Tuesday's slaying, while Police intensified a countrywide hunt for two top politicos allegedly involved in the killing of Sri Lanka's youngest MP.
At an emergency Executive Committee meeting on Friday, the UNP also decided to suspend UNP Parliamentarian Susantha Punchinilame and the gem city's former Mayor, Mahinda Ratnatilleka who have become the most wanted men in Sri Lanka, with the Police offering Rs. 1 million each for information leading to their arrest. Reports from Ratnapura said houses, shops and buildings of UNP supporters had been torched in a revenge attack and hundreds of them were fleeing the city and adjoining areas fearing more atta cks. The detectives searched more than 100 locations to trace the whereabouts ranging from Colombo, Ratnapura and the South but have so far drawn a blank.
Among the houses searched were the Rosmead Place residence of Anura Bandaranaike where some 100 (hundred) CID men had swooped in after midnight on Wednesday.
An angry Mr. Bandaranaike who first demanded to see a search warrant said he had never harboured criminals and that his house had never been searched even when his biggest political opponent, President Premadasa was in office.
The CID yesterday recorded a statement of UNP General Secretary, Gamini Athukorale. The houses of UNP MPs Gamini Lokuge in Kesbawa and Mervyn Silva at Park Road, Narahenpita was searched by the police in their hunt for Mr. Punchinilame yesterday, PA political sources said. Police sources said that even if Mr. Punchinilame and Mr. Ratnatilleka did not surrender, action would be filed against them in courts soon.
As a tense nation watched the situation, tens of thousands of people yesterday thronged Ratnapura to pay their last respects to Mr. Ellawala whose funeral was taking place at the public playgrounds.
In other places pro-Govt. groups held demonstrations calling on the UNP to surrender the suspects.
As police intensified a countrywide manhunt with million awards, the UNP's Ratnapura District Parliamentarian Susantha Punchinilame and ex-mayor Mahinda Ratnatilleke - wanted in connection with the slaying of PA MP Nalanda Ellawela - were last night seeking the presence of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) when they surrender to the police.
Mr. Punchinilame is likely to surrender today, sources said.
Their lawyers were last night trying to contact ICRC officials to expedite this surrender. Mr. Punchinilame's lawyers are also calling for the Attorney-General to transfer the case to a court outside Ratnapura.
In a statement released through his lawyers, Mr. Punchinilame said he wanted the case transferred for reasons of security as he feels his life is in danger. Daya Perera, P.C., was last night trying to contact Attorney-General Sarath N. Silva seeking the transfer of the case under section 47 of the Judicature Act.
Mr. Punchinilame pointed out that soon after the incident in Ratnapura last Tuesday in which Mr. Ellawala was killed, the properties of his friends and relations had been attacked and he could not come out as he feared for his life.
In a statement issued earlier in the day on a Parliament letterhead and signed by Mr. Punchinilame, he said he would surrender to the police with his security men once the 'security of the judiciary is ensured and the false propaganda of the government is over....'
Mr. Punchinilame explaining events which took place at Kuruwita said, "As I was returning home after handing over nominations, I got to know that 'receptions' have been organized to assault UNPers. However, I continued my journey, to find a UNP supporter carrying his bike on his shoulders midway. Upon inquiring I found out that Nalanda and Dilan Perera together with their men were engaged in 'intimidating us'."
Mr. Punchinilame alleged that as a convoy of his vehicles was proceeding a row of vehicles came from the opposite direction, and whilst passing his vehicle, shots were fired from the vehicles proceeding in the other direction.
"The first shots were fired by them, and my officers shot back for security reasons. I had a narrow shave, and received some shots on my bullet proof vest. Security officers are sometimes made use of by Parlimentarians to be of use at a time like this. Branding me as a murderer in such circumstances is an insult and similar to branding 225 MPs as murderers,'' he said.
"It was my intention to report the incident to the police. However, I learnt that my house and those of my friends had been set on fire. Under the protection of the armed forces, the individuals concerned were trying to get political mileage. I am in hiding because going to Ratnapura at this time would cause a threat to my life and not because I am guilty or otherwise," he added.
"It is for the judiciary and not the government or the forces to judge whether I am guilty or not. But I have already heard that the government has irresponsibly branded me and my party as murderers, over which I am grieved", he said.
He added that before this he had to face a similar episode. "But my people in the constituency knew the truth of the false allegations. Therefore even this incident is not going to affect me or my party, and all the mud-slinging is useless. It is not my intention to tell the public whether I am the plaintiff or the defendant, the guilty or the not guilty. I decry the attempts made by elements that caused damage in millions, and the attempt to throw away 10 lakhs for any one finding me, as a democrat inte rested in my partymen in peace and democracy of our country'', he said.
He said the government will have to compensate for the loss of over 100 million worth of property destroyed. "I assure my supporters that if the government fails in it, I will help my people and get compensation for them and will strengthen the UNP voters of this country. Therefore there is no need for any of those who have handed in nominations through my party to withdraw them. I will make a sacrifice on their behalf,'' he said.
Of all the thousands who grieved for the brilliant young parliamentarian
Nalanda Ellawala at his funeral yesterday, the deepest heart break was perhaps
felt by Thushara Senanayake.
For eight years Thushara and Nalanda has been in love. They were to be engaged in June, with the wedding soon after that. Nalanda had told his mother who wanted a quiet simple wedding in keeping with the culture and lifestyle of the common people.
The pretty Thushara, who works as a bank officer in Colombo also perhaps had her own plans and dreams for the life they were to share together. But fate decreed otherwise. On Tuesday February 12, on the eve of a day dedicated to love Nalanda was slain at the alter of bloody politics.
Thushara is the daughter of one of Sri Lanka's most prominent politicians Ratna Deshapriya Senanayake, now High Commissioner in Indonesia. She is the niece of media Minister Dharmasiri Senanayake.
Two Sinhala tabloid editors have been arrested and produced before a magistrate for publishing allegedly defamatory items.
Undaya Editor Sujeewa Gamage was granted bail while the editor of 'Iva' was held overenight at the pollice station. They were produced before Mt. Lavinia Magistrate.
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