Recruitment problems for Elections Commission

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Sri Lankan election officials say that at least two thousand government servants are required to undertake election work in Jaffna. But they are yet to find any one in the peninsula ready to take up election duty for the forthcoming local government polls in Jaffna.

The Elections Commission in Colombo sent out an urgent circular to all its branches in the Kachcheris in Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Vavuniya and Mannar to immediately find volunteers to handle election work in Jaffna.

The Election Commission has also informed the government that it requires at least five hundred vehicles on the day of the elections for taking officers to and from polling booths, transporting ballot boxes etc.

The Political wing leader of the Liberation Tigers in the Jaffna district, Thooyavan has sent out a letter officially to all heads of government departments asking them not to engage in election duty in the forthcoming local government polls.

The letter written on the LTTE's official letter head, urges department heads to convey the message to everyone working under them.

Thooyavan has also sent a letter to the Vehicle Owners' Association of Jaffna, asking them not to permit their vehicles to be requisitioned by the election commission for duty during the one day local polls.