Batticaloa Tamil voters file FR applications

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2002, 16:54 GMT]
Three Tamil voters residing in areas held by the Liberation Tigers in the Batticaloa district Thursday filed fundamental rights applications in the Supreme Court praying to declare the election held on December 5 for the Batticaloa electoral district null and void and to order re-poll as they and several other electors were prevented from voting by the security forces thereby violating their fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 12 (1) and Articles 14 (1) (a) of the Constitution.

The petitioners Messrs S.Soosai, K.Kandasamy and R.Parameswaran have cited six respondents including the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, the Commissioner of Elections and the Batticaloa's Returning Officer.

The petitioners state in their applications that the security personnel prevented them from voting on December 5.

The clustered polling stations meant for the electors in the LTTE held villages in the Batticaloa district were located in Vavunativu. When the petitioners with several other electors arrived at the checkpoint of the army to enter the area held by the State armed forces to cast their votes at the cluster polling stations, all of them were prevented and chased away by the security personnel manning the checkpoint.

The petitioners state that around 13, 420 electors in LTTE held are qualified to exercise their franchise at the last general election.

The petitioners have prayed in their applications to declare the election results of the Batticaloa electoral district null and void and to direct the Commissioner of Elections to take steps to order re-poll in the said electoral district.