The Special Report

Day of shame in Kandy

15th October 2000
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  • Let my pictures do the talking
  • Uniformed men were collecting poll cards
  • Vote plundering not rigging
  • I saw ugly scenes


  • Let my pictures do the talking

    As allegations of intimidation, threats, ballot stuffing and other polls related violence rocked Kandy, our staff photographer Ranjith Perera was himself a victim of intimidation on polls day. Following is a first Imagehand account of his experience:

    It was election day. I was near Kadugannawa town when I spotted a yellow Tata bus. A blue poster across the number plate is what attracted my attention. It read "1 Anuruddha X." The name was printed in Sinhala. 

    I focused my camera and clicked. I then took a quick peek at the passengers inside. Most of them immediately ducked their heads while one or two covered their faces with a newspaper or a folded poster displaying their reluctance to be photographed. I clearly saw two camouflage shirts on hangers. ImageThey were similar to the type worn by members of the government's security forces .

    The convoy consisted of two busloads followed by a double cab. The men who saw me clicking appeared agitated. They slowed down and I knew they would come for me.

    I boarded my vehicle and asked the driver to proceed immediately to the Kadugannawa Police Station. When I got there, I found that the men in the three vehicles were also proceeding to the Police Station. They had apparently come to demand the release of other able bodied men who had been taken into custody. Some were in remand cells. Policemen were escorting yet others from parked buses outside. I found that the number plates of these buses too had been obliterated with posters which said "1 Anuruddha X" in Sinhala. I took more pictures.

    I was later told that the men in the Police Cells were those who had been caught impersonating. The men in the two bus loads and double cab were pressurising the Police to release those in the cells but they refused on the grounds that the men had violated the law. Some insisted that the vehicles seized by the Police for polls related offences be released too. The vehicles included those belonging to three Imagedifferent State institutions. This was also refused. A Policeman walked up to me and pointed at another yellow bus parked on the road with the number obscured by "1 Anuruddha X"sign. The policeman also said he had on speck checked the National Identity card of a well made youth standing in front of the bus and discovered he was an Army deserter. 

    A Policeman walked out to the road where I was standing and wanted me to come over to the Police Station immediately. When I went in, he told me "they are planning to block your vehicle on the way to Colombo and assault you and the driver. Wait here until we help you out.." I was grateful to this conscientious policeman. Some of his colleagues also joined him and warned me that those who had planned to attack us may hurl grenades or even open fire at us. 

    My driver was directed to proceed on his own towards Colombo. A woman Police Constable who was off duty accompanied him. He was asked to drop her at Mawanella town , proceed beyond the bridge Imageand park there. I was to arrive in another vehicle to the spot and resume our journey to Colombo.

    The police sent me to Mawanella in the vehicle of Chulie de Silva, Information Specialist at the United States Embassy .She was with a Bangladeshi Photographer, Shahidul Alam, and was returning to Colombo after touring Kandy. She agreed to take me to Mawanella. I remained crouched most of the time. Upon reaching the meeting place, I found that my vehicle was not there. I proceeded with Ms de Silva and her friend to the Ambepussa Rest House where I telephoned The Sunday Times office to relate the story and continued my journey to Colombo.

    We escaped possible assault not only at Kadugannawa but also at Hanguranketha too. We arrived at Hanguranketha earlier in the morning and I took several pictures there . We were heading towards Colombo when I spotted two Double Cabs packed with club-wielding men giving chase to our vehicle. I told my driver not to stop at any cost. I also saw one of the men in the first cab speaking on a cell phone. It was only when a man tried to stop us after we had proceeded some distance did I realise what the phone call was all about.It was probably to alert a gang ahead to stop our vehicle. I told the driver not to stop and that was how we ended up in Kadugannawa. 

    In addition to this personal experience the driver and I witnessed many ugly scenes and my pictures speak for themselves.


    Uniformed men were collecting poll cards

    "I saw armed men dressed in Army type camouflage uniforms collecting polls cards from voters on the day of the election," says Ven. Athureliye Rathana Thera who witnessed election violations in the Kandy district.

    The thera who stayed overnight at the Madawela Jinamangalaramaya and travelled to Colombo on election day told The Sunday Times that travelling through the Madawela, Digana and Menikhinna areas he saw election violations taking place.

    "In Madawela the situation was very bad. There were gangs dressed in camouflage kits and armed with weapons going along the roads, collecting polling cards from the people," he said. 

    "The innocent people on their way to vote are naturally scared when these armed gangs approach them and ask for their polling cards. They fear for their lives so they just handed over their cards and returned home," he said. 

    "On election day, I left Madawela at about 11 a.m., and right along the way there were similar scenes. The poll cards were being forcibly taken from the people and they were being chased away from the polling stations. 

    "The night before gangs had also visited houses and forcibly collected poll cards from the people. The villagers even came and complained to us at the temple," he said. 

    "The people pointedly said they were a VIP's men. The people were scared of these groups. They were sure that these people would shoot. The police are also scared to enforce the law," the thera said. 

    Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Hanguranketa, Rikillagaskada were among the areas where malpractices were reported to be openly taking place. Similar incidents were also reported from Wattegama, Polgolla and other parts of the Kandy district. 


    Vote plundering not rigging

    Former MP for Nuwara Eliya district, Rohan Abeygunasekara who lost at Tuesday's elections says that in some polling booths in Hanguranketa there were only PA polling agents and they were demanding that all voters show their ballot papers before dropping them into the box.

    "The other polling agents had been chased away," he said.

    "The events that took place showed mass scale vote plundering. The correct term to describe what took place is not rigging but plundering of votes," he added. 

    Rohan Abeygunasekara
    Rohan Abeygunasekara 

    "Early in the morning there were gangs obstructing the people who were going to the polling booths and chasing them off, without allowing them to vote.These gangs were armed," Mr. Abeygunasekara said. 

    "On three previous days they had collected the polling cards from the people. Gangs of people with some school children among them were sent to impersonate," he added. 

    Mr. Abeygunasekara said in half the polling stations there were no polling agents in the polling booths except for PA polling agents. And even in these the voters were being forced to show their ballot papers before putting them into the box. 

    "Through this method they were being forced to vote in a particular way if they did not wish to lose their Samurdhi benefits or did not wish to be assaulted," he said. 

    He said that in one counting centre 9,000 out of the 10,000 votes polled had been for the PA and all these 9,000 votes had the preference vote for a VIP candidate. 

    "There was impersonation in the postal voting as well. At least 10 teachers told me that when they went to cast their postal vote they had been turned away saying they had already been cast. Many of these teachers had filed affidavits in this regard," he said. 


    I saw ugly scenes

    An eye witness account from an election monitor who assisted a foreign group, but does not wish to be identified.

    Around 5.30 a.m. on election day, I received a telephone call saying gangs were entering houses by force and collecting polling cards. This was taking place in Wattegama, Patha Dumbara and Panwila.

    We reached Wattegama by 9.45. There was a lot of fear and tension. Gangs had entered houses, threatened the inmates and collected their polling cards, residents told us.

    They said since October 8, collection of cards from houses had been taking place with gangs armed with T 56 firearms entering houses forcibly.

    I personally saw , more than 100 CTB buses from Mattakkuliya, Piliyandala, Kirindiwela and the North Central Province in Wattegama town

    Showing a list of vehicle numbers, the polls monitor said, these numbers were of double cabs, jeeps and vans. He said residents of Wattegama had told him that the people using these vehicles were not from the area.

    In Wattegama, two people came towards me, brazenly wielding two pistols and two magasins and asked me whether I was a journalist or a polls monitor and threatened me with death. For fear of death I said I was neither. 

    When I proceeded to Panwila I saw people with their faces masked carrying T 56 weapons and roaming around openly. I saw a Kandy district leading politician's two sons among these people. They wore denim trousers and t-shirts with two pistols tucked in their waists. They appeared to be in command of the rigging operation in the area.

    In Panwila I visited nine polling booths and in Patha Dumbara 48 polling booths. Among the polling booths I visited were Udagedera Kanishta Vidyalaya, Panwila Rajamaha Viharaya, Baddegama Kanishta Vidyalaya, Gomara Kanishta Vidyalaya, Galheriya Vidyalaya, Mapata Kanishta Vidyalaya, Ulu Ganga Muslim Vidyalaya, Wattegedera Madya Maha Vidyalaya, Paranaganga Maha Vidyalaya and Paranaganga Kanishta Vidyalaya.

    In Patha Dumbara 85 percent of the polling was over around 11 a.m. The Presiding officers said they were extremely helpless in the face of intimidation but said they would submit this information in their report to the GA in Kandy. 

    In Wattegama I visited Wattegama Udurawana Vidyalaya and Wattegama Doragamuwa Vidyalaya. In Paranagama and Pasinga areas the ballot boxes had been completely stuffed. 

    I was told by residents of the area, that about 1000 people had been brought down from other areas. They had been put up in the Panwila Estate belonging to a man supporting a leading politician in Kandy. This same poitician's supporters were also staying at Digana village and Electricity Board and Petroleum Corporation circuit bungalows.

    Police officers in Wattegama told me that around 6.30 a.m. on elections day armed people were roaming the streets and they were threatened with death.

    Near each polling booth I visited I personally saw a group of about 25 - 30 armed men waiting to enter. I feel it was worse than the Wayamba election. 

    I was told prior to election day, men from the 2nd Sinha Regiment used to disappear regularly from the camp between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. with weapons. These men were reportedly involved in the collection of poll cards. 

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