Asserting that if the trend of election rules violations taking place in ‘serious proportions’ is left unchecked it would lead to serious drawbacks for a free and fair election, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) has complained to the visiting Election Observation Mission of the European Union.
The SLMC alleged that groups operated by former Chief Minister of the Eastern Province Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan and UPFA politician Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman are set to carry out several election malpractices including threatening of voters.
These groups will mainly operate in the Batticaloa district in the Eastern Province and in other areas where minority communities reside, to support the candidate of a major political party, the Congress revealed in its complaint to the Political Analyst for the EU’s Election Observation Mission.
“During the previous elections several incidents of this nature had taken place in the Batticaloa and Digamadulla districts. It is evident that the present Presidential candidate Hizbullah was also allegedly involved in fraudulent activities in the past,” the complaint adds. The SLMC that has pledged support to the New Democratic Front (NDF) Presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa added that persons displaced by the war are denied the opportunity to vote in their native villages. The Congress also brought into focus media-biases displayed by certain television channels and newspapers that give coverage for one particular Presidential candidate, thereby misguiding voters.