Sri Lanka's ballot paper with extraordinary length of over two feet: EC

Sri Lankan Election Commission said on Tuesday that plastic ballot boxes would be imported for next month's presidential polls as the ballot paper has an extraordinary length due to a record number of candidates.

A total of 35 candidates would be contesting the presidential poll on November 16 - the highest ever in Sri Lanka's history.

"The specimen ballot paper is 26 inches in length," Election Commission chief Mahinda Deshapriya said in a statement.

He said that existing ballot boxes might have to be modified and that larger polling booths would have to be constructed during the election.

"There will be 70 polling agents per candidate at each polling station and 175 agents per counting centre," he said.

He said the EC has been forced to make additional steps including importing of plastic ballot boxes.

He said that the government will have to incur a cost of more than Rs 4 billion to conduct the poll. These expenses would be utilised to obtain utility and telecommunication services, and also recruit more staff for counting activities and other election-related duties, he added.