{"id":2346,"date":"2011-12-03T11:09:17","date_gmt":"2011-12-03T11:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/?p=2346"},"modified":"2011-12-03T11:09:17","modified_gmt":"2011-12-03T11:09:17","slug":"dumped-general-fonsekas-votes-were-genuine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/dumped-general-fonsekas-votes-were-genuine\/","title":{"rendered":"Dumped General Fonseka\u2019s votes were genuine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Colombo Telegraph &#8211;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Elections Department\u2019s former Questioned Documents\u2019 Examiner P.H. Manatunga has confirmed that the 62 ballot papers which were marked for common opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka at the last presidential election and found dumped near the Ratnapura Technical College were originals though the government had failed to conduct an impartial inquiry into the incident, it was\u00a0revealed Thursday.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2347\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/fonseka-with-dumped-votes-colombo-telegraph.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2347\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2347\" title=\"Fonseka with dumped votes - colombo telegraph\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/fonseka-with-dumped-votes-colombo-telegraph.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/fonseka-with-dumped-votes-colombo-telegraph.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/fonseka-with-dumped-votes-colombo-telegraph-300x174.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2347\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fonseka with dumped votes<\/p><\/div>\n<p>According to the Daily Mirror,in the letter tabled in parliament Mr. Manatunga said he examined the ballot papers using analytical techniques such as ultra violet radiation, transmitted and oblique light. \u201cI find that these 62 ballot papers are not photocopies. They are originals printed on security paper,\u201d he said and added that the paper was off white in colour and each ballot paper was 38.9 centimetres by 11.4 centimtres and had the legend \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymirror.lk\/news\/15172-dumped-fonseka-votes-were-genuine.html\">Presidential Election 2010<\/a>-Ratnapura District\u201d in the three languages.\u00a0He said security fibres are seen embedded in the paper whose serial numbers were mentioned in the letter.<\/p>\n<p>United National Party (UNP) Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya referred to this letter at the committee stage of the budget debate and said Mr. Manatunga who was now retired had confirmed that these were original ballot papers though the government initially denied it. Mr. Jayasuriya tabled a copy of this letter in parliament.\u00a0\u201cThe government spokesmen said these were bogus ballot papers. Even the District Secretary denied it. But, today, the truth has come out,\u201d Mr. Jayasuriya said.\u00a0 He also decried the government\u2019s failure to constitute the Independent Elections Commission and the Independent Police Commission.<\/p>\n<p>He asked President Mahinda Rajapaksa to come to parliament once in three months and answer questions asked by the opposition as stipulated in the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.\u00a0 Mr. Jayasuriya reiterated the need to depoliticize the police and the judiciary. \u201cIn the name of the gods, I ask the government to stop the appointment of the heads of police stations on recommendations by ruling party electoral organizers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":2347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,57,1],"tags":[1551,6986,1139,1208,1134,1552,1206,1553],"class_list":["post-2346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anti-corruption","category-law-and-order","category-news","tag-18th-amendment-to-the-constitution","tag-anti-corruption","tag-democracy","tag-election-monitoring","tag-human-rights","tag-independent-elections-commission","tag-presidential-election-2010","tag-questioned-documents-examiner"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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