Friday, 2 August 2013 03:43
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Polls for the Northern, North Western and Central Provinces will be held on 21 September, the Department of Elections announced yesterday. Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said that the handing over of nominations and accepting deposits for the elections ended this afternoon.
15 political parties and 36 independent groups have submitted nominations for the North, North Western and Central provincial council elections. These include the main political parties the UPFA, UNP, ITAK (TNA), JVP, CWC, SLMC and the Janasetha Front.
He said that the returning officers in the three provinces have been told to make arrangements to conducts the polls between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. on 21 September.
All the main political parties are contesting the elections in the Northern, Central And North Western Provinces. Focus will be on the Northern Province where the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the ruling UPFA will battle it out for public popularity, four years after the war between the Tamil Tiger rebels and the Army ended.
The Government will be campaigning on the development it has done for the area after 30 years of war destroyed or damaged most of the infrastructure. Most parts of the north including the main Jaffna town have new roads, electricity and other facilities which were mostly limited during the war.
The TNA will, however, look to ride on Tamil sentiments in the north with the Tamil Diaspora calling for accountability over the civilian deaths during the final stages of conflict. (Colombo Gazette)
