The UNP charges that 'borrowing words from our sacred National Anthem and producing cheap commercials to drive home a point that Mahinda Rajapaksa is the creator of all good things about Sri Lanka deserves contempt and condemnation by all patriotic citizens.'

As Bollywood artistes Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez joined an election campaign of President Mahinda Rajapaksa today, 'Times of India' quotes analysts as to saying that this is the first time a Bollywood actor has been roped in for a poll campaign.

A large stock of wristwatches with the face of President Mahinda Rajapaksa on it has been given to voters as an inducement free of charge.

The wife of former Provincial Council chairman Prasanna Solangarachchi broke down and pleaded with the government not to kill her husband.

Residents in the vicinity of a Chinese battery company in the Bata Atha industrial zone have complained to President Mahinda Rajapaksa that they are exposed to the threat of chemicals while the water supply in the area has been contaminated.

Several members of the 'Aluth Parapura' artistes collective have come under the assault of thugs while in the Kumbukgate area of Kurunegala.