The Elections Commission (EC) has called for a meeting with political party representatives this morning to discuss matters related to the forthcoming presidential election, an official said yesterday. This is the third such meeting to be called by EC since the declaration of the election.

“The presidential poll will be conducted on November 16. Besides, postal voting will take place on October 31 and November 1. All arrangements have been made to conduct voting at respective polling stations. Places such as bus depots have been traditionally identified as places vulnerable for malpractices during postal voting. For such places, we will make additional arrangements to prevent any untoward incident,” he said.

The covers containing ballot papers have already been dispatched to respective district returning officers. Also, the commission has instructed the Postmaster General to accept the covers containing marked ballot papers the same day after postal voting concludes.

The commission has set November 4 and 5 as additional days for postal voting for employees of the Police Department, the Special Task Force, the Elections Commission and District Secretariats.

These employees are called in for duty related to postal voting on October 31 and November 1. Therefore, they are usually provided with additional days to cast their votes. (Kelum Bandara)