Ven. Battaramulle Seelarathana Thero, who contested the 2024 Parliamentary Election from the Colombo District, has raised serious concerns over the preferential vote results for the Colombo and Gampaha Districts, alleging a possible “deal” behind the numbers.
The Thero questioned the prolonged delay in releasing the preferential vote results for the two districts and urged the Elections Commissioner General to clarify the matter to the public.
Ven. Seelarathana Thero also criticized the National People’s Power (NPP) party, accusing them of hypocrisy. He claimed that despite their campaign emphasis on seeking votes for the party rather than individual candidates, internal disputes over preferential votes have surfaced.
“I neither believe nor accept this preference vote results. It’s astonishing how some individuals have seen their preferential votes skyrocket from one lakh to six, seven, or even eight lakhs. Where did such numbers come from?”, he questioned.
The Janasetha Peramuna, from which Ven. Battaramulle Seelarathana Thero contested the 2024 Parliamentary Election in the Colombo District under the “Tractor” symbol, managed to obtain only 970 votes in the district. However, its preference vote results were not counted, as the party was disqualified for failing to meet the required 5% of the total votes cast in the district
-Ada Derena