Bukit Gelugor goes to polls

BUKI T GELUGOR After 13 days of campaign, the Bukit Gelugor polling day has finally arrived.

The campaign has been subdued somewhat due to BN not contesting the seat following MCA’s decision not to enter the fray, opting instead to focus on preventing PAS from tabling a Private Member’s Bill on hudud in Parliament on June 9.

All eyes are on DAP's Ramkarpal Singh (centre, in picture), largely expected to win over Parti Cinta Malaysia's Huan Cheng Guan, and two independent candidates Abu Backer Sidek Mohammad Zan and Mohamed Nabi Bux Mohd Nabi Sathar.

Should he win, the focus would then on Ramkarpal’s vote majority, as his father, the late Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh, won with a 41,778-vote majority over MCA's Teh Beng Yeam in the May 5 general election.

Although eccentric independent candidate Abu Backer haswithdrawn from the race, his name will still be on the ballot paper.

The Election Commission (EC) has predicted that about 78 percent of the 82,283 registered voters will turn up to vote today.

Bukit Gelugor has 17 district polling centres, 139 polling stations for ordinary voters.

Results are expected to be known as early as 9pm tonight.

The seat fell vacant after Karpal (above) died in a car crash along the North-South Highway near Gua Tempurung, Perak, on April 17.

LIVE REPORT

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9.30am: SMK Air Itam - Paya Terubong assemblyperson Yeoh Soon Hin, who just finished casting his ballot, says this is the biggest polling centre with 18,929 voters.

Meanwhile, Huan drops by the polling centre and meets Phee, shaking hands with him.

Huan, who says he is suffering pain in his legs after a gruelling 13-day campaign, says "I am alright now and will be going to other polling stations".

All is not alright with Phee on the other hand, as he laments that in other polling centres, political party leaders are not allowed into the compound unless then possess EC’s "Borang 13" which indicates which party they belong to.

"The EC representative reports to the police that we are encroaching into the parametres of the voting area.

He now waits outside the centre, saying, "I don't want to confront the police or EC officers".

Phee says he gets reports from other assemblyperson monitoring other centres that other candidates do not have polling and counting agents in most centres.

9 am: Kg Melayu - Voters begin to trickle in to the polling station situated at SK Ayer Itam and SK Sri Aman.

Independent candidate Mohamed Nabi Bux Mohd Abdul Sathar (left) has stated he will make SK Ayer Itam his first stop today as he makes his rounds.

Chung Ling High School  - DAP Air Itam assemblyperson Wong Hon Wai visits the private school after recieved numerous complaints that EC officials are preventing several vehicles from entering the polling centre.

"I received two to three complaints that voters are not allowed to park their cars within the school compound.

"For the last two elections, voters were allowed to do so."

He argues with two EC officials on duty there but they stand their ground and insist that the arrangement is exactly same as practiced during previous elections. They say only cars ferrying senior citizen or disabled voters are permitted to enter.

8.45am: SMK Air Itam - State executive councillor Phee Boon Poh complains that voters are confused about directions put up by the EC within the school grounds.

He is not allowed to go inside to settle the problem as the EC and police feel he may be "fishing for votes", which he denies he will.

"People (voters) have already made up their minds," he quips.

Phee (left), who is in charge of the Voluntary Patrol Unit, says the team is present in full force in the Bukit Gelugor area to help the police in controlling crowd, traffic and assisting voters cross the road.

Penang Chief Police Officer Abdul Rahim Hanafi drops by SMK Air Itam at about 7.45am to see that everything is in order as he makes his rounds among the polling centres.

8.30am: Bukit Gelugor voters have started casting their votes in all the 17 district polling centres.

DAP is not taking any chances and 37 vehicles on standby to ferry voters to their respective polling stations.

Ramkarpal is expected to visit the SMK Air Itam at 9am, his first stop before he proceeds to other centres.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng will be voting at the Chung Hwa Secondary School at 3pm today.

Polling day here lacks colour as there are no "pondok panas" or voter reference booths where one would normally find party members making last minute attempts to lure voters to cast votes in their direction.

8.15am: Chung Ling High School - PCM candidate Huan Cheng Guan (right in photo) visits the polling station. There, he says he remains hopeful he will be able to secure his deposit.

"The overall atmosphere is very good this morning, with smooth traffic and no long queues or any tension.

"But it will be even better if it rains, to calm down the environment," he jokes and adds that he will be monitoring the counting process at his operations centre tonight.

7.50am: SK Seri Relau - The road around Relau is still clear, with no heavy traffic. Even so, voters already form a queue early in the morning before polling starts, while the atmosphere is relatively calm. They begin to enter the school as soon as the gates open.