Umno and MCA are fuming as the dates set for the Tanjung Piai by-election clash with their respective annual general meetings.
MCA's AGM is on Nov 2 and 3, while Umno's is from Nov 13 to 16.
Nomination for the Tanjung Piai by-election has been set for Nov 2, while polling day is on Nov 16.
The EC has denied any malice in deciding on the dates.
Umno secretary-general Annuar Musa believes the dates were chosen on purpose and in bad faith.
"We believe the EC had bad intentions towards one of the parties that would surely be involved in the by-election," Annuar told Malaysiakini.
He added that although flights and hotels have already been booked for their AGM, Umno will meet tomorrow to discuss the dates.
Likewise, MCA president Wee Ka Siong said in a Facebook post that the probability of the dates clashing was "0.00000001" percent.
However, he said MCA was prepared to make changes and postpone their AGM.
The Tanjung Piai seat has been traditionally contested by MCA but there are now calls for Umno to represent BN in the seat instead
Previously, the Sandakan by-election in May, which was contested by DAP, also clashed with the party's annual congress. The by-election campaign period was from April 27 to May 11 while the DAP congress was on May 5.
EC chief Azhar Harun (above) said the commission had no intention to make things difficult for Umno and MCA but said they had little choice but to settle for the dates chosen
Azhar told Malaysiakini that the EC chose Saturdays specifically as Johor weekends are on Fridays and Saturdays though Fridays would be unsuitable as it would clash with Muslim Friday prayers.
Elaborating further, he said nomination and polling being held on Oct 5 and Oct 19 were unsuitable as Oct 5 was the Johor sultan's official birthday.
Meanwhile, dates between Oct 12 until Oct 26 were likewise unsuitable because Deepavali falls on Oct 27. Likewise, starting the campaign period on Oct 19 would also set up a clash with Deepavali celebrations.
He also said the EC did not want pick Nov 23, the last day for the by-election to be held, as the commission wanted a seven-day margin in case anything unexpected happened.
As such, he said there was no choice but to pick the dates that had been set.
"The EC had no intention to cause trouble to Umno or MCA or be biased and unfair in setting the dates for the Tanjung Piai by-election.
"Any inconvenience is regretted," Azhar said.
The Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat in Johor fell vacant following the death of its incumbent, former deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Mohamed Farid Mohd Rafik, on Saturday.
In GE14, Farid defeated MCA two-term incumbent Wee Jeck Seng with a slim majority of 524 votes.
Farid bagged 21,255 votes against Wee's 20,731. The other candidate was PAS' Nordin Othman with 2,962 votes.
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