Six candidates have so far submitted their cash deposits to contest the November 16 presidential polls.On Friday, three aspirants, Gotabaya Rajapaksa of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, Prasanna Perera of the Ape Jana Balaya party and an independent contender Ven. Aparakke Punyananda Thera, forwarded their deposits.
Earlier, two other independent candidates, Jayantha Ketagoda and Siripala Amarasinghe, and Dr. Ajantha Perera of the Socialist Party of Sri Lanka, made their cash deposits.The accepting of deposits, which began on September 19 will end at 12 noon on October 6.
The Elections Secretariat said that in terms of the law, a candidate contesting from a political party is required to make a deposit of Rs. 50,000, while an independent candidate should submit Rs 75,000.Elections Commission Chairman, Mahinda Deshapriya said earlier that he expected around 20 aspirants to run the presidential race