The briefing was held to announce that nine district leaders of the SLFP (M) and 31 others had met President Rajapaksa last Thursday (Feb. 25) and offered to return to the "Maha Gedara" once again.

The District Leaders from Colombo, Kandy, Gampaha, Badulla, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kalutara, Kegalle and Kurunegala were among them and numerous others will follow very soon. (Read More)

Addressing a recent media conference, Hettiarachchi said the bulk of the votes Fonseka polled in the January 26 Presidential election came from UNPers but he had now severed links with the party.

Hettiarachchi, the incumbent Mayor of Gampola, said Fonseka would have collected around 300,000 votes, and the overwhelming part of those votes were from the UNP.

"We feel sorry for Sarath Fonseka. We are aware that the JVP played a trick in this context," he said.

He also criticised the ongoing election campaign in Nawalapitiya. (Read More)

The Mahanayake of the Malwatte Chapte, Most Venerable Thibbotuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera who expressed concern regarding the incidents of election violence, yesterday questioned how could there be a free and fair election amidst burning of vehicles, houses and propaganda material of political opponents.

The Chief Prelate said so when Deputy Leader of the UNP Karu Jayasuriya visited the Malwatte Temple.

The Ven. Thera pointed out the people in many parts of the country were facing hardships for want of basic facilities including electricity, and access roads despite the election promises of the politicians of the successive governments since independence.

Ven. Sumangala Thera further said: “Even after 60 years of independence, the leaders have failed to fulfil the basic civic needs of the country.  The health services have deteriorated and many hospitals in the country are short of drugs. (Read More)

A fundamental rights violation petition was filed against the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) for the alleged abuses of State resources and partisan use of State media resulting in the violation of the people’s sovereignty in the recently held Presidential election.

Priyanthi Subhashinie Perera, Helen Joanna Beryl Gray and Deborah Marianne Philip in their petition cited the Rupavahini Corporation, its Chairman Prof. Ariyaratne Athugala, its Chief Executive Officer Karunaratne Paranavithana, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation Chairman Hudson Samarasinghe, Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake and the Attorney General as respondents.

The petition stated that the 2nd respondent Karunaratne Paranavithana and the 4th respondent Hudson Samarasinghe were SLFP organizers for Ratnapura district and Colombo West respectively. (Read More)

Mr. Madduma Bandara told the media at his Moneragala residence that the nomination list submitted to the District Secretariat was the same that was signed and given by party headquarters Sirikotha. “This is a case of a non-entity trying to destroy the party by spreading baseless allegations, and if the CID wishes to hold an investigation we would give our full support,” he said.

It was alleged earlier that the UNP nomination list for the Moneragala district had been tampered with and the name of Janaka Tissakuttiarachchi deleted and another name entered in its place after the nomination list was approved by the party.  (Read More)

The Inspector General of Police Mahinda Balasuriya through the government counsel informed this decision when a Fundamental Rights petition filed by Hakeem was heard today.

The IGP further informed the Court that the police have decided to restore security to former parliamentarians who are either party leaders or general secretaries.

The Supreme Court yesterday ordered the Attorney General to explore the possibility of granting some security to the former parliamentarians when they heard a petition filed by 17 members of the dissolved parliament against the withdrawal of their security.

The State counsel informed the Court that the legislators are not entitled for the privileges of security after the legislature was dissolved.

The main opposition United National Party (UNP) said yesterday it would complete by Friday the inquiry into the incident where the name of a Moneragala district candidate was erased and the name of another inserted in his place.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told a news conference that the name of UNP candidate Ananda Tissakuttiarachchi had been deleted before the nomination list was handed over to the Moneragala Returning Officer on February 26.

“We received a written a complaint only today though Mr. Tissakuttiarachchi verbally told us about it last Friday. We will initiate an internal inquiry and take disciplinary action against anyone involved irrespective of his or her position in the party,” Mr. Attanayake said. (Read More)

The police said yesterday it was logistically impossible to provide security to the 7,620 candidates contesting the April 8 general elections even if they requested for it.

Police spokesman Preshantha Jayakody said that once parliament was dissolved former parliamentarians reverted to being ordinary civilians and lost their entitlement to VIP security by the Ministerial Security Division (MSD). He said only misisters were entitled to such security.

More than 110 of the former UPFA MPs are Cabinet, non Cabinet or Deputy Ministers.

“However, if any politician – a former MP or a party leader -- thinks he or she is under threat and that his or her life is in danger he or she can make a request to the Police Chief,” SP Jayakody said.

He said the request would be referred to the Police Intelligence Service (PIS) before deciding whether a politician needed security.

The Supreme Court yesterday informed the Attorney General to consider providing security to UNP parliamentarians whose securities were withdrawn following the dissolution of parliament.

The bench comprising Justices N.G. Amaratunga, P.A. Ratnayake and Ms. Chandra Ekanayake directed senior state counsel Viveka Siriwardena de Silva who appeared for the Attorney General to check the possibilities of providing security to former MPs considering earlier precedents.

The court told the SSC to consider the earlier precedent like General Janaka Perera who was ordered to be provided with eight security personnnel of his choice following a petition to the Supreme Court. (Read More)

All cutouts, banners, posters and other election displays are to be removed by today (March 01), the Election Commissioner has ordered.

The Election Department and the police have taken steps to remove all the displays, the Commissioner has informed the parties.

Earlier the DIG for elections Gamini Navaratne suggested the political parties to print leaflets and distribute to voters instead of putting up displays that had to be taken down by the police spending tax payer's money. (Read More)