Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and other dignitaries are also present at this event.
The ceremony is taking place at the historic Magul Maduwa (Audience Hall) of the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy.
Religious observances were carried out at the commencement of the ceremony and the chairpersons of District Coordinating Committees to 23 administrative districts were handed over their letters of appointment.
The newly appointed chairpersons of District Coordinating Committeeare as follows:
1. Colombo – Pradeep Undugoda
2. Gampaha – Sahan Pradeep Withana
3. Kalutara – Sanjeewa Edirimanne
4. Kandy – Wasantha Yapa Bandara
5. Matale – Nalaka Bandara
6. Nuwara Eliya – S.B. Dissanayake
7. Galle – Sampath Atukorale
8. Matara – Nipuna Ranawaka
9. Hambantota – Upul Galappatti
10. Jaffna – Angajan Ramanathan
11. Kilinochchi – Douglas Devananda
12. Trincomalee – Kapila Atukorale
13. Kurunegala – Gunapala Rathnasekara
14. Puttalam – Ashoka Priyantha
15. Anuradhapura – H. Nandasena
16. Polonnaruwa – Amarakeerthi Atukorale
17. Badulla – Sudarshana Denipitiya
18. Monaragala – Kumarasiri Ratnayake
19. Ratnpaura – Akila Ellawala
20. Kegalle – Rajika Wickremesinghe
21. Vavuniya – L. Dileepan
22. Mannar and Mullaitivu – Kader Masthan
23. Ampara – D. Weerasinghe
