The Election Commission will commence accepting nominations from candidates competing in the General Election from today (12).
The Election Commission said that 59 independent groups running for the General Election have made their election deposits. Thirty five of the independent groups have made the deposits on Tuesday (10).
According to the Election Commission 60 political parties have informed that they will be competing in the coming General Election. A meeting was held between political party representatives and the Election Commission yesterday (11) concerning nominations and on other activities relevant to the General Election.
Meanwhile the Election Commission yesterday stated that if a candidate misuses state properties in the General Election, the secretary of the relevant government organization which the state property belongs is responsible in the case. And also if any state owned property is used for political activities during the General Election legal action will be taken against the heads of relevant organizations.
The Election Commission also stated that a committee will be appointed including an assistant election commissioner to look into matters of misusing state properties and acting against election rules. Accepting of applications for postal voting began on March 6 and will continue till the 16th.The Election Commission anticipates around 600,000 postal vote applications for the 2020 General election.
The Election Commission has set up assistance service centers at Sethsiripaya - Battaramulla, Labour Secretariat-Narahenpita, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Ministry - Maligawatte, Postal Headquarters - Battaramulla and Isurupaya - Battaramulla to provide assistance in filling out the postal voting forms.
The General Election 2020 will held on April 25, following the dissolution of Parliament from midnight on Monday (2). Nominations will be called for from March 12 to 19.The new parliament is set to convene on May14.
The Election Commission published four extraordinary gazette notifications on March 3 pertaining to the appointment of District Returning Officers, Assistant District Returning Officers, deposits from independent groups and the procedure for casting votes.
The Voter Registration List of 2019 will be used at the General Election 2020. One of the four gazette notifications is with regard to the number of candidates to be nominated from each electoral district and the number of members to be elected in the upcoming General Election. It also specifies the deposits that should be made by an independent group.
The highest number of members to be elected is from the Colombo District with 22 candidates to be nominated, followed by Gampaha District with 18 members to be elected and 21 candidates to be nominated. The number of members to be elected from the Kandy District is 12 while 15 candidates are to be nominated. The amount of deposits to be made by an independent group has been specified as Rs. 44,000 for Colombo, Rs. 42,000 for Gampaha and Rs. 30,000 for Kandy. Seven members are to be elected from the Jaffna and Hambantota Districts while the number of candidates to be nominated for the two districts is 10. The deposits required to be made by an independent group has been specified as Rs. 20,000. However, according to the Gazette notification, recognized political parties are not required to make any deposit.
The Gazette states that deposits could be made at the relevant District Secretariat or the District Elections Office.
An independent group shall, between the date of publication of the notice under Section 10 of the Parliamentary Elections Act requiring the holding of the election and the submission of the nomination paper of the group, deposit in legal tender with the Returning Officer a turn calculated at Rs. 2000 in respect of each candidate nominated by such group, on any working week day during office hours.
(Daily News)