Internally displaced individuals
Sunday, 02nd November 2014
By The Nation
Sri Lankans who were internally displaced due to actions of terrorist or other militant groups in the recent past will have an opportunity to apply to be included in the supplementary register of electors for the Northern and Eastern provinces for the year 2014 from November 01 to 07, the Commissioner of Elections Mahinda Deshapriya announced. According to Section 2 of the Registration of Electors (Special Provisions) Act No. 27 of 2013, any person, who is or had been an internally displaced person, whose name appeared in the register of electors for any electoral district in the Northern Province or Eastern Province for any year, until the end of 2009, and whose name has not been entered in any register in operation subsequent to the year 2009 are among those who can apply.
These persons shall, on proof of the above and on production of a certificate issued by the Grama Niladhari of the area in which the applicant is presently residing, stating that the applicant had been an internally displaced person, be entitled to apply to the registering officer of the electoral district within which the applicant was permanently resident prior to May 18, 2009, to be registered in the register of electors of such electoral district. In addition, according to Section 3 of the Special Provisions Act, a child of a Sri Lankan citizen mentioned in Section 2, who had been internally displaced before reaching the age of 18 and is 18 or more on the date on which revision commenced, born after being internally displaced and is 18 or more on the date of revision, whose name has not been entered in any register in operation subsequent to the year 2009, can also apply on production of a birth certificate and certificate from the Grama Niladhari of the area in which the applicant is presently residing, as proof that the parents had been internally displaced prior to May 18, 2009.
Applications must be submitted during the period from November 1 to 7 and can be obtained from the Registering Officer of all Electoral Districts island-wide. Applications must be forwarded to Registering Officer of the Electoral Districts located in the Northern and Eastern Provinces (Jaffna, Wanni, Batticaloa, Digamadulla and Trincomalee). The announcement regarding the completion of the Supplementary Register will be made on November 8. Those whose names are not included in the Supplementary Register but who still qualify will be given seven days since the day of announcement to appeal.
