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Almost 14% of postal vote applications rejected
View(s):Of the 626,953 postal voters, nearly 85,000 applications of State employees and Defence personnel have been rejected by the Elections Dept, said Deputy Commissioner of Elections M.M. Mohamed.
He said applications were rejected on the grounds of eligibility, providing false information, delays in forwarding applications, and in some instances more than one application from one applicant.
However, he confirmed that the rejected postal voters could cast their votes on election day.He said around 700 centres, covering all 25 administrative districts island wide, have been set up for postal voting.
Campaign for Free and Elections (CaFFE) alleged that in some cases, applications for the postal votes were deliberately delayed by the heads of departments.
Meanwhile, the University Teachers For Social Justice (UT4SJ), a breakaway faction of the Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA), said this week, they will mobilise the professional community to be extremely alert for malpractices during the postal elections period and on election day.
UT4SJ Spokesman Dr Mahim Mendis said they are going to take special measures on election day to monitor any suspicious activities.
“We are not going to reveal what kind of activities we intend taking, as this government is not giving enough space for the democratic rights of the people of this country, but as an academic community, we will try our utmost to ensure a free and fair election,” he said.