Colombo: A petition has been filed in the
Sri Lanka`s Supreme Court by New Democratic Front challenging
the election of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, alleging that
there had been widespread discrepancies in vote count.
The petition was filed yesterday by Shyamila Perea,
the General Secretary of the New Democratic Front under which
defeated Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka contested the
January elections against incumbent Rajapaksa.
The NDF, comprised of many opposition parties, has
named Election Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake and the
Attorney General in the petition.
The petition said the sovereignty guaranteed in the
country`s constitution had been violated due to the actions of
the Commissioner of Elections. It said the public right to
equality before the law has been violated due to the "illegal
acts" that took place while counting the votes.
The petition alleged that the Commissioner of
Elections was not able to secure an accurate counting of votes
at the Presidential Election on January 26.
Perera said in the petition that the result of the
Presidential elections was subjected to computer fraud when it
was transferred through email.
The incidents, circumstances and whole election
procedure from counting to declaration of the result
manifested flagrant transgression of the due process, it said.
The petitioner has requested the court to make an
interim order for a recount of the votes cast in Ratnapura,
Matale, Puttalam and Anuradhapura districts.
The petition calls for a scrutiny of the ballots with
counter-foils of ballot books to confirm the serial numbers of
ballot papers.
A scrutiny has been asked of counter-foils of the
ballot books to check whether electoral lists or identity card
numbers were entered, local media reports said.
The petitioner has also requested a scrutiny of
temporary identity cards entered at each polling booth, it
said.
PTI
