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Social media influencer Ashen Seneviratne has spurred many interactions on social media circles related to the recently concluded 2024 General Elections. Despite failing to run for the general election this year, Ashen expressed his support for an independent group contesting from the Colombo district under the symbol of a bunch of keys. During the result phase, many were curious about the number of votes obtained by this Independent Group backed by Ashen.
Viral social media posts claim that the independent group with Ashen’s support, which contested the recent parliamentary election under the symbol of a “bunch of keys,” managed only eight votes. These posts even showed part of a result card from the Election Commission to validate this point and satirically indicated that only eight of Ashen’s family and close associates had voted to support the group backed by Ashen, as seen below.
Here are a few instances with similar claims associating Ashen with the number 8 to imply similar claims.
But with all the social media hype, did Ashen’s group really manage only eight votes at the polls? Let’s look at the facts.
Ashen Senarathna, a well-known YouTuber, initially attempted to contest the 2024 parliamentary election with his independent group. However, his nomination was rejected due to technical reasons.
Read also: නාම යෝජනා ප්රතික්ෂේප වන්නේ ඇයි ? අශේන්ට නාම යෝජනා අහිමි වුනේ මොකද ?
Despite this, a couple of weeks before the general election, Ashen started campaigning for an independent group (Group #15) representing the Colombo District, publicly stating that he was offering support to them. The group’s leader even said that if they managed to get enough votes to secure at least a national list seat, they were considering offering that seat to Ashen.
To verify the claim, we checked the official website of the Election Commission of Sri Lanka, which publishes verified election results.
Official Vote Count in Colombo District : According to the Election Commission’s official results, the independent group 15, which contested under a key bunch symbol, received 1,792 votes in total from the Colombo District. This number reflects all votes cast for the group across the entire district.
Total results of Colombo district
Postal Vote Count : The “8 votes” claim stems from the results for postal votes, a subset of the total votes, usually the first result published by the Election Commission for most electoral districts. Indeed, in the postal votes for the Colombo District, the Independent Group 15 group received only eight votes, as seen below.
results.elections.gov.lk | Archived Link
Postal votes are a distinct category applicable only to certain public sector employees. These include sectors such as government employees and security personnel who are unable to vote in person due to election duty commitments.
Therefore, whilst Ashen’s family and close associates could have voted for the Independent Group with his support, their being represented in the postal vote result is also misleading.
Clarification by Ashen Senarathna : Responding to the viral social media posts, Ashen Senarathna also posted the video below on his Facebook page, indicating that the Independent Group contesting under the symbol of a bunch of keys got 1792 total vote s.
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Google News | TikTok
The claim that the independent group 15, with Ashen’s backing, received only eight votes is misleading. While the group did indeed receive only 8 postal votes, their total vote count across the entire Colombo District was 1,792 votes. This result is publicly available on the Election Commission’s website.
Read in Sinhala : අශේන් සේනාරත්නගේ කණ්ඩායම ලබා ගත්තේ ඡන්ද 8 යි ද?
Misinterpretation of postal votes as the total vote count has led to the spread of the erroneous claim on social media.
Title: Did the Independent Group Supported by YouTube Star Ashen Receive Only 8 Votes in the Colombo District?
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