National Coordinator of the Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV,) Manjula Gajanayake said the tussle between Sasikala Raviraj and other TNA MPs was due to a lack of understanding of the counting process among candidates and their supporters. “Their ignorance and social media were a dangerous combination” the CMEV National Coordinator said.
According to Gajanayake political party leaders must educate their candidates and their supporters on how the counting process works. Gajanayake said this in reference to the incident which took place on Thursday (06) in Jaffna during counting between supporters of ITAK candidate Sasikala Raviraj and several other TNA candidates.
Supporters of Raviraj accused Senathirajah and Jaffna District MP-elect M. A. Sumanthiran of rigging the preferential votes and depriving her of a seat in parliament.
“The counting process is documented throughout. Our monitors at the counting center checked the documents and things seemed to be in order. It is very difficult to say that a person has got enough preferential votes to get in, until the very end of the counting process” he noted.
According to Gajanayake on the day the CMEV had noted that a large number of supporters were gathering at the counting center. “Later there was a delay in issuing preferential vote count and when the results were announced, Raviraj had not won. However, Raviraj thought she had come in second and that was also what her supporters expected. Then there were social media posts by Raviraj’s daughter and other supporters that something fishy was going on and her supporters were angry.” he said.
Gajanayake said following this Sumanthiran had arrived with his security and supporters of Raviraj had expressed their displeasure at his presence and supporters of various candidates clashed. The police and STF officers had come in unarmed. They had left their weapons inside their vehicles because they didn’t want to make matters worse and it became hard to control the situation.
“Finally, the Police and STF officers had to use force to disperse the clashing rival supporters and some people sustained injuries. Sons of both Senathirajah and Raviraj were among those who sustained injuries,” he added.
Gajanayake added that Raviraj could move courts if she was convinced that she had been wrongfully denied a seat in parliament.
