KULIM, Dec 3 — The early voting centre at the Kulim district police headquarters for the Padang Serai parliamentary constituency in the 15th general election closed at 2pm today.
A total of 74 personnel and police officers began casting their ballots at 8am today.
Kedah police chief Datuk Wan Hassan Wan Ahmad said the total number of voters at the early voting station should have been 76 but two did not turn up.
“One of them, a police personnel passed away while another was dismissed,” he said to reporters when met at the early voting centre here today.
Wan Hassan said the early voting process at the Kulim IPD went smoothly with 22 police personnel assigned to maintain order.
Besides that, he said police received five reports during the campaigning period which resulted in police having to conduct investigations under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
“The investigation includes the statement made by a candidate in which we will refer the public prosecutor for further action,” Wan Hassan said.
This morning, Kulim IPD CID personnel Sergeant Noor Pazilah Abdul Rahman became the first voter to cast her vote here.
Election Commission (EC) has set the GE15 voting day for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat to be postponed on December 7 and early voting on December 3 following the death of the PH candidate M. Karupaiya.
The Padang Serai parliamentary seat will see a six-cornered fight between Pakatan Harapan’s Mohamad Sofee Razak, Perikatan Nasional’s Datuk Azman Nasrudi, Barisan Nasional’s Datuk C. Sivaraj, Parti Pejuang Tanah Air’s Hamzah Abd Rahman, Parti Warisan’s Mohd Bakhri Hashim, and Independent candidate Sreanandha Rao.
However, Warisan and BN have reportedly withdrawn from the contest for the seat and expressed support for the Harapan candidate’s campaign.
— Bernama
