SINHALA MARGINALISATION: Tamil family didn't get polling cards & were not amongst the registered voters although they lived since 2005 in Colombo!!

VOTERS IN THE COLD Tuesday, 26 January 2010 00:43


‘No vote’ at Presidential Election means ‘no vote’ at General Elections as well

By Sumaiya Rizvi

If you belong to the many disappointed citizens unfortunate enough in being unable to vote owing to no fault of your own, then you are part of an unknown number of people who will be left out of the Presidential Election not forgetting the Parliamentary Elections to follow. It is time to put ourselves into the shoes of those who fall into this category when their votes will be a crucial factor.

“I feel I’m not a citizen of this country as I don’t get an opportunity to make my vote count,” a sixty-six year old Kanapathipillai Pathmawathie resident of Vaverset Place, Wellawatte South said. She was among the many that came in search of the Grama Sevaka with the hope of securing her right to vote. Four of her family members including herself did not get their polling cards and were not amongst the registered voters although she had been living at the above address since 2005. Her family had missed the 2005 Presidential Election after they moved from Jaffna and this was to be their second time in a row.

Looking back she weighed the decision that brought her to Colombo. “When we were in the North we could not vote freely and without fear,” Pathmawathie said. Interestingly her family had applied for their names to be included in the 2008 electoral list but their names had been inadvertently included in the 2008 ‘A’ list (primary list) that included the names that will be excluded from the 2008 electoral list. Having noticed it she made an appeal to the Divisional Secretariat to ensure that her name is included in the 2008 electoral list which carries the final list of eligible voters. In this regard, she had explained her position and had produced the forms and letters that she had received from the Divisional Secretariat.

At a Presidential Election the power is returned to the people and the politician who had been entrusted with power falls at the mercy of the people. It is a gratifying feeling (with a short expiry date) during which time a voter can exercise a right in selecting a leader for the next six years. Thereafter the power is transferred and the voter, the citizen, is left literally on his/her own.

Lost franchise
Undoubtedly the public cast their ballots in the name of the war at the last Presidential Election. It is to be seen to whom the public will favour to re-awaken the country battered by the war. The forthcoming Presidential Election is creating an unprecedented buzz on the streets and in the minds of the millions. In this post-war era people were hopefully looking forward to the election. However, thousands of voters are at the mercy of the Election Department and the Grama Sevaka to uphold their fundamental rights. The Deputy Executive Director of Transparency International of Sri Lanka, Ruckshana Nanayakkara expressed his concern over the number of voters who will not be able to cast their votes at the Presidential Election. He said that the voters denied their voting rights had no access to a mechanism through which they can make a complaint. Ideally, voters should be able to make complaints with the Ministry of Public Administration, Nanayakkara stated.

“There should be a system of late voter registration once the voter’s list is announced to avoid denying citizens their freedom of expression as guaranteed in the Constitution.

The Grama Sevakas have not submitted eligible voters’ forms. They should give a receipt in acknowledgement when they accept such application forms. But that is not done,” Nanayakkara said pointing to the politicization of the Grama Sevaka appointments. He explained that in certain countries like the United States of America people get registered for a particular election within a stipulated period of time in a highly developed election system. However, he said that it would be hard to adopt the same system in Sri Lanka due to its technological backwardness. During the past Presidential Election more than 200,000 eligible voters’ names were deleted from the voters’ list he recalled. “Such omissions can have a huge impact on the elections.”

Who is responsible?

The Daily Mirror spoke to the Grama Sevaka of the Colombo South, U N.Vasana in charge of Pathmawathie’s area. Vasana said she assumed duties recently and therefore doesn’t have the files to find out why people’s names had been deleted from the 2008 electoral list. She said that the previous acting Grama Sevaka had the files relating to the 2008 electoral list and that it was not her responsibility.

Airing her views on the responsible parties for the hordes of persons flocking to her office with the hope of securing their voting rights she said that the Elections Department was responsible for omitting the names. “It is easy for them to say that we are politically biased and that our appointments are politicized,” Vasana grimaced defending her appointment.

“If the Parliamentary Elections fall before July the Elections Department will use the 2008 electoral list. Yes, the people who do not get to vote at the Presidential Election won’t get to vote at that election too,” Vasana confirmed. “The Elections Department usually prepares and finalizes the electoral list in July every year. So if the Parliamentary Elections are held before that, then they will use the former list,” she said.

The advisor to the Elections Department, Bandula Kulatunga lashed out at the political climate in the country. “The entire system is politicized from the secretaries of the ministries who want to stay in power after their age of retirement,” Kulatunga admitted. He said that the system was to blame for the scores of voters who are denied their fundamental right to vote. They [members of the public] can go to courts. It’s not worth scolding us.” Kulatunga complained that the Elections Department could not do anything for the voters who were unfairly penalized. He said that it was up to the President and the ruling party to consider the woes of the public when they decide on the dates of the Parliamentary Elections and said that if these elections are to be held before July it was most likely that the department would be left with no option but to use the 2008 electoral list.

The right to vote is a principle of democracy and it is worth considering postponing the elections based on securing the voting rights of one’s citizens. It needs to be considered because after all it is the people’s sovereignty at stake.

THE MESS IN LISTS


The Elections Department said that they cannot help voters whose names do not appear in the voters’ list. Advisor to the Elections Commissioner Bandula Kulatunga said that it was the voter’s responsibility to ensure their names are included in the electoral list. “These voters should have checked for their names in the 2008 ‘A’ lists that were made available to the Grama Sevaka in January last year. And if their names had appeared in them they could have complained about it then. But now it’s too late,” Kulatunga said.

According to him, the ‘A’ list includes the names of people who will be excluded from the electoral list of a particular year while the ‘B’ list consists of the names that will be included in the electoral list. And if a person finds that his name is in the ‘A’ list he is able to make a complaint against the Election Department for excluding his/her name.

Kulatunga also told DM that the names of voters should be included in either list and said that they should have provided both lists to the Grama Sevakas with a deadline of four weeks to make appeals. He said that the Elections Department compiles the ‘A’ list for double counting errors and to ensure that voters are permanent residents of the area.

Two households from the same neighborhood in Sri Boddhirukkarama Road, Wellawatte didn’t find their names on the ‘A’ list. Consequently, they will not be voting at the forthcoming Presidential Election. Sharadha Balasubramanium said, “All five family members’ names were not included in the ‘A’ list. Now what can they (Elections Department) say. We checked whether our names were included in the ‘A’ list and though our names were not included we didn’t complain.” The head of another household, Chaminda Kumara living down the same road said, “I went to the Grama Sevaka to see why I did not get my polling card and found that my name wasn’t in both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ lists. The Grama Sevaka told me that it was impossible situation and although it is not my fault I don’t get to vote.”

Meanwhile Kulatunga said that except for the Uva and Southern Provinces the remaining voters’ lists for the 2009 Provincial Council Elections were compiled based on the 2007 electoral lists. Kulatunga also said that voters who did not get to vote at the Presidential Election will not be able to vote at the Parliamentary Elections if it is held before July as the 2009 electoral list with all the corrections that are being done now will come into effect only after July, 2010.

Daily Mirror.com