COLOMBO, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- A ruling party provincial politician was arrested in Sri Lanka's southern town of Galle on Monday, police spokesman Nimal Mediwaka said.

    Mediwaka told reporters that Nishantha Muthuhettigama, a candidate from the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) for the southern provincial council election was arrested by police and has been remanded until Tuesday.

    Muthuhettigama was accused of making disparaging statements about the Inspector General of Police and the police conduct relating to the southern provincial council election scheduled to be held on Oct. 10.

    It is also reported that Muthuhettigama's supporters had damaged the office premises belonging to Anarkali Akarsha, another candidate from the UPFA for the southern provincial council election.

    Election monitoring groups say the election campaign has begun to see an increasing number of violent incidents caused by inter and intra party rivalry.