In Sri Lanka, polling has begun for local body elections. Polling, which began at 7 AM, will end at 4 PM. Around 1.58 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to elect 8,325 candidates for 340 Local Government bodies. <br/><br/>Around 65 thousand police and security forces have been deployed to ensure free and fair polls. A ten-member group of elections observers including four from India are in the country to independently monitor the poll process. The counting of votes and postal votes will commence after the conclusion of voting. Former President Mahinda Rajapakse is trying to make a comeback through an opposition alliance while popularity of unity government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime minister Ranil Wickremasinghe is under test.<br/><br/>Both leaders are fighting each other through their coalitions, which has added further interest to the contest. This is the first time a mixed electoral system is being followed wherein 60 percent of the members will be elected on a first-past-the-post system (FPP), while the rest will be on proportional representation (PR). Results for candidates getting elected through FPP will start coming today night but the overall picture will be clear by tomorrow evening only.