PROVISION has been made for displaced voters of Jaffna, especially Muslims living elsewhere in the country to apply to the Commissioner of Elections to cast their votes at the forthcoming local Polls to the Jaffna Municipal Council said Assistant Commissioner of Elections for the Jaffna District P. Kuhanathan yesterday (1)
Additional Commissioner of Elections (Provincial and Local) W. P. Sumanasari said that the displaced voters could submit their applications within a week of the announcement of the date of nominations which would be gazetted by the latter part of this week.
Kuhanathan said that according to the Electoral Register for 2008 there are 100,417 registered voters living within the Municipal area of Jaffna and of the 10,127 displaced Muslim voters living in areas outside the Jaffna MC only 288 persons had resettled in Jaffna.
He said that the Government had made facilities for the displaced voters by Amending Section (4) of the Local Authority Special Provisions Act No (30) of 2009.
He said that the last time the Local elections were held in the Jaffna District were in 1998 and that though Nominations were called twice in 2002 and 2006 the elections were postponed.
He said that each Party or Independent Group had to put forward 29 Candidates each to elect 23 members to the Jaffna Municipal Council and that it was compulsory for any Party or Independent group to forward the names of 12 Youth Candidates and all of whom should have reached the age of 18 by June 1,2008 and less than 34 years and six months at the time of filing nominations.
Assistant Commissioner of Elections for the Wanni District A.S.Karunanidhi said that according to the Electoral Register for 2008 there were 24,626 Registered voters in the Vavuniya Urban Council area. He said that each Party or Independent group had to submit the names of 15 candidates to elect 13 members to the Vavuniya Urban Council.
He said that six of the candidates should be youth and be between the ages of 18 and 34 ½ years at the time of handing over nominations.
Karunanidhi said that the last time Local elections were held were in 1994 and PLOTE won that election to the Vavuniya UC. (Courtesy: The Island)
