By Shamindra Ferdinando

Police spokesman Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Nihal Thalduwa yesterday said that a comprehensive security plan would be implemented for the presidential election in coordination with the armed forces as well as the Civil Defence Force.

Attorney-at-law Thalduwa said that the proposed plan included a contingency strategy in case of unforeseen situations. DIG Thalduwa said so in response to The Island query as to whether law enforcement authorities were prepared to meet any eventuality.

We sought an assurance from police, close on the heels of the US travel advisory warning its citizens of possible violence before, during or after the election. The US statement also referred to terrorist attacks in the past. Since the April 2019 Easter Sunday carnage there hadn’t been a single incident here.

DIG Thalduwa emphasized that law enforcement would adopt quite stringent measures to prevent incidents during this period. The top official explained the adjustments that had been made to release the required officers and men for election duties. “At certain locations, police have been replaced by the military,” DIG Thalduwa said.

Defence Ministry Spokesman Colonel Nalin Herath said that the Defence and Public Security Ministries would coordinate the combined effort. Referring to reports released by the Election Commission pertaining to polls related incidents, Col. Herath pointed out that the situation was quite stable though there had been some incidents since nominations. The Elections Commission accepted nominations on Aug 15.

Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake said that since July 31, the EC received altogether 4215 complaints up to Sept. 14. Of them, only 30 complaints had been categorized as violent, Ratnayake said, adding that 4097 were poll-related complaints. In addition, there had been 88 other complaints not related to the election, the top EC official said. According to him, of the 4215 complaints that had been received, 3641 were resolved so far.

Both DIG Thalduwa and Col. Herath said that they expected the campaigns to end tomorrow (Wednesday midnight) on a peaceful note.

Responding to another query, the police spokesman said that Senior DIG Asanga Karawita would oversee the security arrangements as the senior officer in charge of Elections. The police spokesman explained that Senior DIG Lalith Pathinayake functioned as Senior DIG (Administration) in an acting capacity as the post of IGP remained vacant.

The Supreme Court in late July directed President Ranil Wickremesinghe to appoint a suitable officer for the post of IGP pending conclusion of the fundamental rights petition filed against Deshabandu Tennakoon. President Wickremesinghe refrained from making the appointment.

According to a statement issued by the election monitor PAFFREL regarding polls related incidents covering the July 27 to Sept 15 period, there had been no killings, bomb attacks, gun attacks and threatening of political opponents at gunpoint. However, there had been 21 beatings during this period and the poll monitoring mission categorized seven of them as serious.

The Commonwealth and EU, too, have deployed poll monitoring missions.