Deposit for candidates remains unchanged despite concerns over costs View(s):By Kasun WarakapitiyaDespite repeated appeals by the Election Commission to the government to increase the cash deposit for the presidential elections to reduce the number of candidates, it remains unchanged. In April, the Cabinet approved a proposal by the Justice Minister to increase the deposit of a candidate representing a recognised political party to Rs. At present, a candidate from a registered political party will have to deposit Rs 50,000 and an independent candidate Rs 75,000. At the 2019 presidential elections, the three top candidates accounted for 97.40% of the vote, and 33 other candidates shared 1.59% votes among them. The candidate who came last managed only to get 976 votes, or 1.01%, while 21 candidates received less than 10,000 votes each.

Source: Sunday Times July 28, 2024 03:16 UTC