Provincial Council Polls:

Nominations late December

The Elections Secretariat announced yesterday that nominations for the Central and North Western Provincial Council Elections will be accepted from December 24-31 by Returning Officers of the respective districts.

Accordingly, a political party or Independent group should nominate 65 candidates to the Central Province and 56 candidates to the North Western Province. Out of this, 56 members are to be elected to the Central Provincial Council and 50 members to the North Western Provincial Council. In addition two bonus seats will be on offer to the winners of each province.

In the Central Province the Kandy district is set to appoint 30 members, Matale and Nuwara Eliya 10 and 16 respectively to the Central Provincial Council.

In the North Western Province Kurunegala and Puttalam districts are slated to appoint 34 and 16 members to the Provincial Council. Contesting political parties and Independent groups should make deposits by 12 noon on December 30, the Elections Secretariat said.

The polls date is to be announced after the nominations period. However, this is due during February 5 to 24, 2009.