Two Tamil candidates from the Tamil National Alliance, who filed their nominations yesterday to contest the Northern Provincial Council election were questioned by the Sri Lankan army.
According to the TNA's spokesperson Suresh Premachandran, army personnel had visited the homes of S. Sayanthan and Ananthi Sasitharan, questioning them on their political activities.
Speaking to Ceylon Today, Suresh Premachandran said:
"This is a gross violation of election laws. Even President Mahinda Rajapakse promised our Leader, R. Sampanthan, that he would ensure a free and fair polls in the Northern Province (NP), without any interference from security forces personnel, whereas soon after nominations were filed yesterday, the Army had behaved contrary to expectations by intimidating two TNA candidates contesting the NP polls.
This is ridiculous. We have brought the issue to the notice of the Commissioner of Elections, and our Leader, R. Sampanthan, who is furious over the two separate incidents, will lodge a complaint with the President as well. We will also take up the issue with the diplomatic circle in Colombo"
On Sunday, the TNA handed over nomination papers for the five districts - Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Vavuniya and Mullaithivu.
Nominations included Tamil United Liberation Front leader V. Anandasangaree, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization leader M.K. Sivajilingam and People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam leader Siddharthan.
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