Although nominations for the general poll have already been filed, preference numbers are yet to be assigned to the candidates. 

However, some candidates have begun exploiting the Corona situation to angle for the preference vote.

Meanwhile, a certain government party candidate hailing from an electorate close to Colombo has on his own determined his preference number on the basis of his place in the alphabetical order of the names of candidates in the district and has prominently marked this self-assigned preference number on the Corona relief packs being distributed to the people. 

There is a move on the part of some rival candidates to report this matter to the Elections Commission, they say.