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Rural people early to vote
The North Central province recorded a voter turnout of about 70 percent at yesterday’s local council elections.
President Maithripala Sirisena joins the queue to cast his vote at a polling booth in a Polonnaruwa school. Pic by Karu Gamage
In the Anuradhapura district, the morning turnout was low but gradually picked up after noon. A total of 672,161 voters were eligible to vote in the district at 680 polling booths.
Election monitors received a complaint that campaign materials for Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna candidate Sirima Karunarathne were being distributed at the Maligaspe junction in the Anuradhapura Urban Council area. There were also some threatening incidents reported from the district.
In the Polonnaruwa district, there were 321,594 voters eligible to cast their ballots in 295 polling booths. Observers said voters from rural villages cast their votes in the morning while heavy voting took place in towns later in the day.
In Polonnaruwa, monitors said they observed some candidates canvassing outside their houses. Sudeera Dankewala, a UNP candidate, had been noticed canvassing in front of his residence located near Bendi wewa polling statio, a monitoring group alleged.