Court dismisses EPDP petitions against TULF

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 November 2001, 18:16 GMT]
The Court of Appeal Friday dismissed two petitions filed by the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) seeking to order the Returning Officer to reject the nomination list of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) contesting the Colombo district.

Justice Nimal Gamini Amerasinghe made this order after lengthy inquiry, dismissing the petitions without costs.

A former EPDP parliamentarian Mr.Kasilingam Vikneswaran and a member of the party Robert Stephen in their petitions said that one of the candidates of the TULF list had been holding the post of chairman of the Palmyrah Development Board at the time of submitting his nomination. As it was contrary to the election laws the TULF's nomination list should be rejected.

Twenty-eight persons including the Commissioner of Elections were cited as respondents in the petitions.

Meanwhile Police Election Secretariat said Friday that it has received 1129 complaints related to election violence since the nominations were filed on 27 October. During the last twenty-four hours that ended Friday morning at 6 a.m. 79 complaints had been lodged, police said.

In the northern Jaffna peninsula, two unidentified armed men snatched away about 300 polling cards from a postman Friday morning, police said.

The two men had come on a motor cycle without registration plate, the police said.

In a separate incident two supporters of the ruling People's Alliance were shot dead at Kumbukadawela in the Puttalam district, around 7 a.m. Friday. A UNP candidate contesting the Puttalam District was later arrested by the Police in connection with the killings. Puttalam Magistrate remanded the suspect, Ranga Bandara till Monday.