Ballots were stuffed at 99 polling centres and 271 booths at the Eastern Provincial Council Election,did not have polling agents ,the UNP said yesterday.

The party’s General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told a news conference in Colombo,that the absence of polling agents due to intimidation by UPFA candidates, gave it the opportunity to freely stuff ballot boxes in the presence of pro government presiding officers.

"It was the stuffed ballots that gave the UPFA a 41,050 majority over the opposition.In addition polling did not take place at 17 centres at Thirukovil in the Ampara District.It was the sum total of intimidation,vote rigging and non polling that ensured a superficial victory for the UPFA."

A retired police officer was in the forefront of the UPFA’s intimidation and rigging campaign in the Batticaloa District, while the police simply looked the other way,he said."The Elections Commissioner nor the police took any action regarding complaints of intimidation and malpractices."

Attanayake, said that while UPFA candidates and their supporters were permitted to move about freely and canvas after the campaign period had officially ended,the UNP and other opposition parties were forced to follow the rules strictly.

Chairman of the UNP,Rukman Senanayake said that the bomb explosion in a cafeteria in Ampara town the day before the election,frightened many voters into keeping away on polling day."The question is how the bomb got to the heart of Ampara, which the government claimed was safe and secure."