11.10.2005
Mr.Dayananda Dissanayake,
Commissioner of Elections,
Sarana Mawatha,
Rajagiriya,
Sri Jayawardanapura.
My dear Commissioner.
Once again you have been entrusted with the difficult task of holding an election, this time electing the President of Sri Lanka. Although you succeeded in holding a Free and Fair election, to a great extent in all parts of Sri Lanka, it was a miserable failure in the North and the East, for which I do not blame you. Since you were not empowered to annul the election in respect of an Electoral District the Government should have taken the initiative either to hold a fresh poll to the North and the East or a repoll in the entire country. The number of seats involved being 22 is not a small number to be ignored.
I have a number of witnesses, very creditable too, to prove that the Returning Officer his assistant, the Senior and Junior Presiding Officers, a host of other officials assigned election duty, NGOO, Members of some Monitoring Teams, high religious Dignitories and such others had been briefed by L.T.T.E. Leaders on ,as to how poll should be conducted. I don’t find fault with anyone of them for attending such meetings under threat, but people with such responsibilities should have brought this matter to your notice without conniving with one another to conduct a fraudulent election, committing a serious crime of treason. Since all staff on election duty in the North were all Tamils the L.T.T.E. found it easy to compel them to connive and act as instructed by them.
I am one who respects you as a very honest officer who will conduct this election impartially and make it free and fair in the North and the East also. Please ensure that whoever gets elected as President is by the free will of the people. If the bad precedent created at the last Parliamentary Election in the North and East is repeated at this election too it will be difficult to mend in the future. The Tamil Public Servants who conducted the election in the North and East should take the blame for failing to protect the rights of the Tamil people who are not free to decide on their own. Hence without entrusting the task to the same set of Government servants kindly have Government servants of all communities mixed so that if the Returning Officer is a Tamil the Deputy is a Sinhalese or Muslim and every polling station must have the Senior Presiding Officer or the Junior Presiding Officer (JPO) and half or one third of the officials assigned election duty should be either Sinhalese or Muslim.
For mysterious reasons the police did not do any election duty other than maintaining Law and order and therefore the assistance of the Security Forces was not reguested. The impersonators had a free day going about with bundles of genuine and forged Polling Cards in a number of vehicles from one Polling Station to the other, men casting women’s votes and women men’s votes. The requirement is only possession of a Polling Card and the capacity to identify a symbol. The police simply looked on while voting went on smoothly. I hope you yourself would have been shocked to hear all these. Let it not happen again. I understand 5000 police officers are due to be transferred from the North and the East to the South. Please have these transfers cancelled and also empower the security forces to do election duty without the condition, to give help only if asked for. Please see that all vehicles other than those commissioned by the Returning Officer for election duty and public transport, are kept in doors with orders to arrest any vehicle seen on the road. Very frequent patrolling is also necessary and every junction should have a set of Police or Army officers to check vehicles and to identify persons seen with Polling Cards.
Sri Lankan Democracy is peculiar to Sri Lanka only, since a voter who has the tight to vote need not know or see the person to whom he is voting or knowing what his policies are. The Vanni people has lost so many democratic rights. Voting for a person without knowing anything about him is not going to do any good for him. Further more he is not sure whether he will be voting direct or by proxy. He would rather stay at home without voting. Hence don’t establish cluster polling stations unless an identity card of any from is insisted on for a voter to leave Vanni and to come in to the cleared area to vote. Unlike last time the polling booths should be in cleared area with full security for agents of candidates to canvas support, among the voters which too though irregular will be better than last time. During the last Parliamentary Elections the T.N.A. under the pretex of performing street dramas all over the Kilinochchi District characterized me in a demeaning manner showering heaps of allegations about me.
What is the protection a candidate has if an announcement is made in Vanni that a candidate had withdrawn from the contest. This happened to me last time.
There are matters that should receive your serious consideration. Annexed is a list of suggestions, if implemented will help to hold a free and fair election in the North and the East.
Thanking you,
Your Sincerely,
V.Anandasangaree,
President-T.U.L.F.
Mr.Dayananda Dissanayake,
Commissioner of Elections,
Sarana Mawatha,
Rajagiriya,
Sri Jayawardanapura.
My dear Commissioner.
CONDUCT OF POLL IN THE NORTH AND THE EAST.
Once again you have been entrusted with the difficult task of holding an election, this time electing the President of Sri Lanka. Although you succeeded in holding a Free and Fair election, to a great extent in all parts of Sri Lanka, it was a miserable failure in the North and the East, for which I do not blame you. Since you were not empowered to annul the election in respect of an Electoral District the Government should have taken the initiative either to hold a fresh poll to the North and the East or a repoll in the entire country. The number of seats involved being 22 is not a small number to be ignored.
I have a number of witnesses, very creditable too, to prove that the Returning Officer his assistant, the Senior and Junior Presiding Officers, a host of other officials assigned election duty, NGOO, Members of some Monitoring Teams, high religious Dignitories and such others had been briefed by L.T.T.E. Leaders on ,as to how poll should be conducted. I don’t find fault with anyone of them for attending such meetings under threat, but people with such responsibilities should have brought this matter to your notice without conniving with one another to conduct a fraudulent election, committing a serious crime of treason. Since all staff on election duty in the North were all Tamils the L.T.T.E. found it easy to compel them to connive and act as instructed by them.
I am one who respects you as a very honest officer who will conduct this election impartially and make it free and fair in the North and the East also. Please ensure that whoever gets elected as President is by the free will of the people. If the bad precedent created at the last Parliamentary Election in the North and East is repeated at this election too it will be difficult to mend in the future. The Tamil Public Servants who conducted the election in the North and East should take the blame for failing to protect the rights of the Tamil people who are not free to decide on their own. Hence without entrusting the task to the same set of Government servants kindly have Government servants of all communities mixed so that if the Returning Officer is a Tamil the Deputy is a Sinhalese or Muslim and every polling station must have the Senior Presiding Officer or the Junior Presiding Officer (JPO) and half or one third of the officials assigned election duty should be either Sinhalese or Muslim.
For mysterious reasons the police did not do any election duty other than maintaining Law and order and therefore the assistance of the Security Forces was not reguested. The impersonators had a free day going about with bundles of genuine and forged Polling Cards in a number of vehicles from one Polling Station to the other, men casting women’s votes and women men’s votes. The requirement is only possession of a Polling Card and the capacity to identify a symbol. The police simply looked on while voting went on smoothly. I hope you yourself would have been shocked to hear all these. Let it not happen again. I understand 5000 police officers are due to be transferred from the North and the East to the South. Please have these transfers cancelled and also empower the security forces to do election duty without the condition, to give help only if asked for. Please see that all vehicles other than those commissioned by the Returning Officer for election duty and public transport, are kept in doors with orders to arrest any vehicle seen on the road. Very frequent patrolling is also necessary and every junction should have a set of Police or Army officers to check vehicles and to identify persons seen with Polling Cards.
Sri Lankan Democracy is peculiar to Sri Lanka only, since a voter who has the tight to vote need not know or see the person to whom he is voting or knowing what his policies are. The Vanni people has lost so many democratic rights. Voting for a person without knowing anything about him is not going to do any good for him. Further more he is not sure whether he will be voting direct or by proxy. He would rather stay at home without voting. Hence don’t establish cluster polling stations unless an identity card of any from is insisted on for a voter to leave Vanni and to come in to the cleared area to vote. Unlike last time the polling booths should be in cleared area with full security for agents of candidates to canvas support, among the voters which too though irregular will be better than last time. During the last Parliamentary Elections the T.N.A. under the pretex of performing street dramas all over the Kilinochchi District characterized me in a demeaning manner showering heaps of allegations about me.
What is the protection a candidate has if an announcement is made in Vanni that a candidate had withdrawn from the contest. This happened to me last time.
There are matters that should receive your serious consideration. Annexed is a list of suggestions, if implemented will help to hold a free and fair election in the North and the East.
Thanking you,
Your Sincerely,
V.Anandasangaree,
President-T.U.L.F.
