JVP says UPFA machinery geared for poll rigging

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2008, 09:07 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Wednesday charged that the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government machinery of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been fully geared for mass scale rigging in the forthcoming elections to the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council (SPC) and North Central Provincial Council (NCPC), scheduled to be held On August 23 Saturday.

JVP Chief Ministerial candidates for SPC and NCPC Messrs Chameera Koswatte and Vasantha Samarasinghe have appealed to the police to take immediate steps to stop poll rigging.

They had brought to the notice of the law enforcement authority that members of underworld gangs have been accommodated in all rest houses and tourist hotels in the two provinces to take part in electoral malpractices such as vote stuffing in ballot boxes thus preventing legitimate voters from exercising the franchise on the polling day, sources said.