Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) member Susil Premajayantha said the National Peoples' Movement (NPM) Presidential Candidate former Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake should be held accountable for the 21 April Easter Sunday attacks. He was responding to a question with regard to Senanayake's impact on the vote base in the forthcoming elections. "Senanayake as Army Commander, cannot rid himself off the responsibility of the loss of lives that occurred due to the devastating Easter Bombings, "Premajayantha said. Meanwhile, Rajapaksa’s spokesman Dullas Alahapperuma  said during the last election, 17 presidential candidates contested in addition to Maithripala Sirisena and Mahinda Rajapakse. He said the 17 candidates together were only able to secure a total 137,000 votes. Alahapperuma went on to say that Chairman Siddhalepa Group, Victor Hettigoda who contested in the 2005 elections spent millions on his elections campaign but was only able to secure 14,458 votes. "Mushrooming candidates is a common occurrence during Presidential elections.  People know who to vote for. In the coming weeks people will  know which forces control these so called presidential candidates" Alahapperuma said.