EC denies counting early votes in Bagan Datuk on Saturday

PUTRAJAYA: The Election Commission (EC) denies that it had tabulated votes for the Bagan Datuk parliamentary seat after the early-voting session on Saturday.

Its chairman, Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah, said ballot papers from early voting sessions would be tabulated only on May 9 at centres set by the commission.

He said before the early counting process was conducted, stakeholders, especially candidates, would be officially notified to attend and witness the process.

“Investigation by EC showed that election personnel have adhered to the procedures.

“Once the early voting ended at 5pm, they packed the ballot boxes in front of all candidate agents and took the boxes to a secured place at the Hutan Melintang police station.”

He said there was a group of people, including a candidate from a party, causing a problem during the process of keeping the boxes, who claimed that EC staff had misappropriated the boxes.

“For the record, the number of registered early voters at Hutan Melintang camp was 1,541. However, 508 early voters had applied to vote via post.”

He said the total number of eligible early voters on May 5 was 1,033, but only 825 people turned up to vote, while the remaining 208 voters did not show up to vote.

“EC condemns those who caused nuisance to the election personnel.

“We deny the false accusation as it is (aimed) to create a fuss among people and attract voters.”