All’s set for today’s election where 2,378 candidates of various hues will vie for 104 Western Provincial Council seats.

Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said he had requested political party secretaries to see that their candidates do not violate election laws.

He said he would not hesitate to nullify the polls at any Polling Station where election laws were infringed.

All complaints addressed to the Commissioner of Elections regarding the Election malpractices should be faxed to 2877608, 2877609 or 2877610, he said and appealed to voters to go to their polling stations early as polling will commence at 7.00 a.m.

The Postal Votes will be counted soon after polling closes at 4.00 p.m. and the first postal voting result could be out by 11.00 p.m., Elections Department Sources said. Additional Commissioner of Elections P. M. Siriwardena said the Commissioner of Elections had issued the Electoral Registers where those who received two or more votes were identified and given strict last minute instructions to all Senior Presiding Officers that a statement be taken from such voters on the ‘E’ form before they are permitted to vote. Anyone found attempting to cast two votes would be detained and charged under the Elections Ordinance.

The Commissioner also reminded the Inspector General of Police Jayantha Wickremaratne and Senior DIG (Elections) Gamini Navaratna to instruct all Policemen on duty at Polling Stations that except for voting purposes the premises were out of bounds to all, including VVIPs and Media personnel.

Additional Commissioner (Provincial and Local) W. P. Sumanasiri said that the Elections to the WPC are being held under the Electoral Register for 2007. 3,820,214 persons are eligible to vote for 2,378 candidates at 2,769 polling stations.

Senior SLAS official Bandula Kulatunga said that voters should cast their preference votes for three individual candidates of any Political Party in the fray. It was only in the case of local polls that one could give all three preference votes to a single candidate. These two factors must not be mixed up by voters, he said.

The Deputy Commissioner of Elections for the Colombo District A. Senanayake said 1,380 candidates were in the fray for 43 seats from the district.

Senior Assistant Commissioner of Elections for the Kalutara District Rasika Pieris said 20 members would be elected from the 368 candidates.

Deputy Commissioner of Elections for the Gampaha District M. M. Mohamed said that out of 630 candidates from the district, 39 would be elected.