A group of five Tamil National Alliance (TNA) supporters who were putting up posters in support of the alliance candidate, M.M. Rathan, in the Vavuniya District, were arrested in Kanakarayankulam. Sources said at the time of the arrest, they had around 700 posters, in bundles, in their possession. They were subsequently produced before the Vavuniya Magistrate who released them on bail, sources said.
According to the Vavuniya Police, the supporters had been putting up posters along the Vavuniya – Kanakarayankulam main road, and the police had arrested them for violating election laws. They had been travelling in a van, going from point to point pasting posters, police sources said.
Reportedly, the arrest had taken place at 4.00 p.m. on Wednesday (14), and they had been taken to the Kanakarayankulam Police Station where they had been interrogated for nearly three hours. They were later produced before the Vavuniya Magistrate and released on personal bail, while the van and the large bundle of posters had been taken into custody by the police.
The TNA candidate, Rathan, defending his supporters, said they were accompanying him in the Kanakarayankulam area when he was engaged in a door to door campaign and putting up posters without causing any problem to the public.
However, following a complaint made by the Army in Kanakarayankulam, the police had arrested his supporters and had placed them under custody.
Meanwhile, a special labour force has been deployed on the directive of the Elections Department in each police station in the three provinces where elections are scheduled to remove posters and cutouts that have been put up in support of the candidates contesting the elections.
The police in the North have also been put on alert over polls violations, sources said.