Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya today gave a red light to the Military saying it cannot prevent people from voting.

“Even the Military cannot stop you from voting. If they ask you to stop voting due to security reasons, you have the right to ignore their warnings,” the Elections Commissioner said addressing a press conference at the Elections Secretariat that was organized a day before the presidential election.

The Elections Commissioner made this remark in a context where it was highly speculated by many groups that the Military would interfere with voting in many parts of the country, including the North and East. He said maximum efforts have been made to prevent vote rigging and the public need not have any fear over the matter.

He also added that the Department had received information that some groups were attempting to issue “fake election results”, misleading the public.

He said the original results would only be released by the Elections Department and every possible step has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the process. The counting of votes, according to Deshapriya, will be commenced at 7 pm on January 08 - three hours after the closure of voting. 

Deshapriya also added that legal action can be taken against private sector employers who go grant leaves to their workers to cast votes.