Elections Dept. officials probed malpractices promptly, reducing their incidence: Polls Chief

Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya yesterday said he had deployed officials from his department directly to investigate allegations of malpractices at polling booths at last Saturday’s provincial council elections and added he would continue the practice at future elections.

He said he found the system was effective as the chances of any malpractices were reduced.

Mr. Deshapriya told the Sunday Times he also took other steps to ensure the elections were held in a peaceful manner. Excerpts:

This election saw a decrease in violence. What measures were taken to reduce election violence?

From the day the election date was announced, election monitoring centres were established. This was called the Election Complaint and Investigation Unit headed by senior election officers and a Superintendent of Police. They operated from each of the District Secretariats. Previously, any election related violence reported to monitors was relayed to police, but this time the complaints were investigated promptly by election officers themselves in the respective areas. This resulted in a de- crease of election-related violence.

After publishing the mobile phone numbers of election officers, even minor incidents reported to them were checked by our officers. In some instances police were not even aware of these incidents. Support from election officers islandwide was sought to handle election work and also to act as mediators to reduce violence. There were many State officers present who were not attached to the Elections Department. All parties extended their support in making this a less violent election.

What was the violence that was reported and what kind of action was taken to control it?

There was a complaint that estate workers will not be allowed to vote and that whoever casts his vote will be assaulted. I acted immediately and informed the provincial secretaries and police to inform these workers they would be given half a day’s leave for them to cast their vote. Meanwhile, police security was provided for them to cast their vote. We sent our officers to estates to check whether there was election-related violence.

Usually, one senior officer is appointed to monitor a polling booth, but this time three additional officers were appointed. Even before polling day, election monitoring was taking place not only on main roads and towns but also on by roads and villages.

In Ratnapura, a candidate had brought in thugs from Colombo and forced people to vote for him. We contacted the police and sent mobile police teams to the area.

In Anuradhapura, there were rumours that a counting centre will be attacked. I called the IGP and got STF security for the place.In Dehiattakandiya and Akkaraipattu areas, STF security was provided.

There was information that a senior police officer was involved in election propaganda work, I informed the IGP and he was removed from the area.

Some cases were handled personally by the Elections Department. What were these cases?

We seized more than five State vehicles from the three provinces used for campaign work. On the day of elections, there were seven vehicles carrying out campaigning and all were taken into custody. Five State tourist bungalows which were used for illegal election propaganda were raided and sealed.

Some ministry vehicles were used even without the knowledge of the relevant ministers.

In Anuradhapura, much illegal election propaganda material was taken into custody.

What measures were taken during the polling day with regard to security?

In the Eastern Province, out of 625 officers attached to the Elections Department more than 300 were deployed to prevent any violence.

All ballot boxes and postal votes contained codes in order to keep a check on any malpractice.

Special stickers bearing the signature of election officers were placed inside the ballot boxes.

What action will be you taking on post-election violence and when will the gazette be released?

I have no authority to take action with regard to post-election violence. Until assets are declared I won’t publish the gazette.