600 families in Vellaave'li division denied voting in EPC polls

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 October 2012, 08:09 GMT]
The names of more than six hundred Tamil families, residing in villages Ka'n'nakipuram, Chinnavaththai, Central Camp, and 36, 37, 38 and 39 colonies that come under the Poaratheevup-pattu (Vellaave'li) DS division had been taken off from the voters lists by village officers (GS) on the instruction by the Divisional Secretary a few days ahead of the recently held provincial council elections. A large number of resettled Tamils in Batticaloa district have been denied of exercising their voting rights at the recent Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) polls due to the interventions and instructions by the military-run administration in the East, civil officials in Batticaloa said on condition of anonymity.

At Ka'n'nakipuram village alone, where 275 families live, entries of 140 families in the voters list had been removed by the divisional secretariat, informed sources said.

When questioned, village level officers claimed that they had removed the names of the families that do not reside in the villages.

However, when confronted with evidences, the GS officers admitted that they had removed the entries according to the instruction of the Divisional Secretary.

Divisional Secretary, in his turn, responded by saying that the removal of the families were done according to the instructions from the Department of Elections.