Polls violence starts on a deadly note

• One killed, two injured in UNP-UPFA fracas

One person was killed and two others were injured in incidents which were reported across the country over the past 24 hours in election related violence.

Executive Director of the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE), Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, said that the incidents had occurred between supporters of the two main political parties, the United National Party (UNP) and the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

Tennakoon said that the police were probing the latest incident which was reported on Monday night in Ratnapura, in the Sabaragamuwa Province, when a supporter of the UNP had been attacked and killed by an unidentified group when he was on his way to organise an election campaign for a female UNP parliamentarian.

“The victim had been politically active himself and police were probing the incident to ascertain whether this incident was politically motivated or not,” Tennakoon said.

The other incidents that took place occurred in Mahiyanganaya in the Uva Province, Anuradhapura and Kurunegala between supporters of the UPFA and UNP.