Selangor EC chief admits dubious voters in roll

Selangor Election Commission (EC) chief Zulkifli Abdul Rahman has admitted that an Umno assistant registrar had registered "many" dubious voters, said the DAP's Klang MP Charles Santiago.

He said Zulkifli had curtly made the admission during a 45-minute meeting at the latter's office today.

The EC had previously said the same individual had registered S Dinesh, 32, who resides in Britain, as a voter last year without obtaining his consent.

"I asked him how many people this man has registered as voters. He said 'many'," Charles said.

However, Zulkifli, according to Charles, said the commission could not remove Dinesh's name from the electoral roll because Section 9(a) of the Elections Act bars the removal of names from a gazetted electoral roll.

"They are hiding under Section 9(a). They are acknowledging the law has been broken but are not taking action," Charles told a press conference after the meeting.

The press conference was held at the Selangor EC office, but Zulkifli was not present.

Charles had gone to the Selangor EC hoping to get the registration documents for Dinesh to determine how his signature had been forged.

Dinesh's father K Sivakumar, who made a police report on Dinesh's non-consensual registration on Jan 31, was also present.

"But they have told us that we need to go to Putrajaya EC office to get the documents, despite us giving them a week's notice," he said.

Charles said he urged the EC to lodge a police report against the assistant registrar, so that action could be taken against him.

However, he was told that the EC would have to consult its legal team in Putrajaya on this.

Produce the dubious names, MP told      

Charles said he was dissatisfied with the EC's reply when he asked about the possibility of somebody else voting on behalf of individuals like Dinesh, who were abroad.

"They asked us to produce a list of these dubious names to the polling agents so that individuals claiming to be them can't vote. This is ridiculous. We can't be doing that," he said.

Charles said the EC officers also refused to respond when asked whether the Immigration Department is "colluding" with political parties to help register voters.

"They did not deny nor did they agree with what I said. They were quiet. How else can an Umno man know that someone like Dinesh is residing abroad? Only the Immigration Department can produce that information," he pointed out.

Charles added that he has discovered six such cases of Malaysians residing abroad who have been registered as voters, without their consent, in his constituency alone.