Commissioner of Elections Mahinda Deshapriya had ordered the closure of all illegal party offices and the removal of all illegal propaganda materials such as posters, cut-outs and banners in the ten districts where the elections would be held on Sept. 21, senior SLAS official, now functioning as consultant to the Elections Secretariat, Bandula Kulatunga said yesterday.
Deputy Elections Commissioner (Administration) M. M. Mohammad said that the polls chief had issued a directive to the secretaries of all mainstream polit ical parties in the contest to ensure that all their candidates closed down all illegal party offices by August 23, the latest .
Failure to comply with the directive of the Elections Commissioner would result in the police forcibly demolishing the offices, Mohammad warned.
The polls chief has issued the directive following reports from his department officials who identified a large number of illegal campaign offices functioning in all districts where the elections would be held, especially in the Kurunegala District
At the same time, the police have been asked to remove all election related decorations obstructing pedestrian and vehicular traffic within a week in the districts where the polls will be held.
Elections Department officials who visited some of those districts have found that supporters as well as sponsors of leading candidates have spent millions of rupees to put up posters, cutouts and banners which they believe will help boost the chances of their candidates to obtain more preference votes.
By Franklin R. Satyapalan
IS