EPDP preparing to rig Jaffna poll -Maheswaran

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 October 2001, 17:21 GMT]
The Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) is preparing to rig the polls in Jaffna with the connivance of a government official, said Mr. T. Maheswaran, ex-MP and chief candidate of the United National Party in Jaffna, addressing a campaign meeting in Nallur, a suburb of the northern town, Wednesday. ‘The EPDP is a quisling army of the Sri Lankan government. The struggle led by the leader of the Tigers, Pirapaharan, and all the sacrifices made for its progress would be demeaned internationally if members of the EPDP are elected to the Parliament from Jaffna,’ the UNP candidate said.

The ex MP charged that the EPDP, a major coalition partner of the PA regime, was elected to Parliament in 1994 and 2000 fraudulently, by rigging the votes in Jaffna, and particularly in the islands.

Mr. Maheswaran alleged that the EPDP has fraudulently applied for more than 50000 votes of Jaffna residents who have permanently left the peninsula since 1995.

He claimed that the EPDP had acquired the names of the residents who left Jaffna for good from travel and security clearance papers in the possession of the rehabilitation and reconstruction authority for the north (RRAN). The RRAN also comes under the purview of the Mr. Douglas Devananda, the leader of the EPDP.