No leave to cast vote

8 April 2010 03:33 am

By Jamila Najmuddin


Election monitors claim that some private establishments in Colombo have failed to authorize leave for their employees in order to cast their vote at the General Elections today and a complaint to this effect is going to be lodged at the Elections Department.

PAFFREL Executive Director, Rohana Hettiarachchi told Daily Mirror online that they had received some complaints from individuals claiming that their establishments had not authorized leave and investigations were underway to identify these companies.

“We are trying to identify these companies and where it is located. Once we have the information we will lodge a complaint with the Elections Department. All employees must be given leave today to cast their votes,” Hettiarachchi said.

He added that companies in Colombo should have authorized leave for its employees from early this week as those whose voting is outstation could have made arrangements to travel to their respective home towns prior to polling day today.

He further said that it was not possible for employees to travel today as public transport was poor. (Daily Mirror online)