Clash at Jaffna counting centre; Row over votes for Sumanthiran and Sasikala
Around 1.30 am on Friday, the Jaffna Central College counting centre was chaotic as Special Task Force (STF) personnel on duty made a baton charge, when a group of people tried to enter the counting room. In the ensuing chaos, two people were injured, one of them being a local councillor.
The group, consisting of supporters of TNA candidate Sasikala Raviraj and those who gathered alleged foul play in the preferential vote counting process as she was leading initially but was later pushed to fourth place losing the race once the counting was finalised.
TNA front-liner M.A. Sumanthiran, who was far behind the list earlier, advanced to second place with 27, 834 votes while Ms
Raviraj won 23, 098 votes. When Mr Sumanthiran visited the counting centre passed midnight, those who gathered shouted against him alleging he had stolen votes cast for Ms Raviraj.
Visibly tired and disappointed Ms Raviraj left the scene, as some of her supporters were crying while others were broadcasting the scene live through their social media accounts.
Mr Sumanthiran who met reporters the next day rejected those allegations asking how she could level such allegations when the difference between the preferential votes between them was more than 4000.
"I do not want to comment on the conduct of Ms Raviraj during this election campaign. She was our party’s female candidate. She was also a first time contestant. It is regrettable that she has lost." he said.