Call to annul Puttalam resultsBy Stanley Samarasinghe-Tuesday, 01 Oct 2013
Leader of the Jana Setha Peramuna, Ven. Battaramulle Seelarathana Thera, yesterday filed a writ petition in the Court of Appeal, requesting to issue a Certiorari Mandamus to quash the final preferential vote results of the Puttalam District, announced on 22.09.2013.The petitioner also requested the Court to issue a mandate in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus directing the first, second, third and fourth respondents to recount the preferential votes of all candidates and to order the Commissioner of Elections to hold a new election.
Commissioner of Elections, Mahinda Deshapriya, the Assistant Commissioner of Elections, M. Kingsley Fernando, the District Secretary, Returning Officer for Divisional Secretariat, K. Sumith Chandana, the Assistant Returning Officer, the Divisional Secretariat Officer, Puttalam and Secretaries of the political parties have been cited as respondents in this petition.
According to petitioner Ven. Seelaratana Thera, he filed the petition in respect of the infringement of the rights for a fair and accurate counting of the preferential vote guaranteed by the election laws of Sri Lanka, which was a result of the administrative action and the negligence of duty of the first, second, third and fourth respondents.
The petitioner stated 19 candidates of his party contested the recently held North-Western Provincial Council election and they were affected due to the irregularities caused when counting of votes in the Puttlam District.
Over 5,000 official marked ballot papers were found at the election counting centre No. 5, at St. Andrew's College, Puttalam and they have been taken into the CID custody and produced in the Puttalam Magistrate's Court.
TUESDAY, 01 OCTOBER 2013 
A request made by former Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) convener Sanjeewa Bandara to enter universities was refused by Colombo Fort Magistrate today.
