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State media: Polls Chief to act this week
By Shelani Perera
Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake has appointed an officer to investigate complaints that State media were ignoring guidelines issued by him.

The commissioner who met party Secretaries on Friday assured that appropriate action would be taken against the State media for not adhering to his guidelines. The Sunday Times learns that the Commissioner had assured the parties that by the next party secretaries’ meeting scheduled for Friday action would be taken against the State media based on the report submitted by investigating officer.

The Commissioner had agreed to summon the heads of Rupavahini , the SLBC and the ANCL, but said the ITN did not come under his purview. The parties had urged the Commissioner to use the powers vested in him by the 17th Amendment to appoint a Competent Authority to ensure that the State media were fair and balanced in their coverage of the election campaign.

Among the other issues raised by the parties were the tension in the north and east, where Tamil parties are unable to carry out their campaign freely. The Commissioner while acknowledging the difficulties faced by the parties stated that he would be deploying foreign monitors in the North and East on election day to minimise malpractice.

Police Elections Chief G. Navaratne who was present at the meeting again urged the party leaders to refrain from putting up posters, banners and cut outs. He said they were wasting money in putting up the cutouts or banners with police taking prompt action.

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