The Governor of Sri Lanka’s North Central Provincial Council Maheepala Herath attended a meeting with senior public officials in Polonnaruwa district in the afternoon of July 13, 2020, wearing a face mask that contained a candidate’s name, election symbols and number, blatantly violating the election laws.

The meeting was the district operation committee on COVID-19 and it was chaired by District Secretary W.A. Dharmasiri.

The Governor turned senior politician was wearing a face mask containing the symbol and preference number of his son Kanaka Herath who is contesting the election from Kegalle district.

A Governor of a Provincial Council is a senior public official appointed by the President to represent the executive at the Provincial Council. According to election law, the senior public officials must maintain neutrality on election propaganda. No candidate can use public property for election campaigns.