By Malaysiakini
Three in Klang and one in the Bukit Bendera parliamentary constituency have complained that unscrupulous persons have been using their identity card numbers and registering with the Election Commission (EC) as voters when in fact they never had.
The Klang trio brought their plight to Klang MP Charles Santiago’s (left) attention who said there is a possibility of collusion among the National Registration Department (NRD), BN parties, the Immigration Department and the EC.
“If not, how can they be registered when they claimed they have not done so. The EC claims that the electoral rolls are clean.
“I state otherwise – that this will be the dirtiest election of all. To make matters worse, we cannot challenge the rolls because of Section 9A of the Election Act, where gazetted electoral rolls cannot be challenged.
“For those residing overseas, how could people register for them unless they have been informed by the Immigration Department,” he told Malaysiakini.
The first case involved Dr Mahalekshmi Selvanathan from Adelaide, who, four days ago, said she was surprised that someone had registered her as a voter, when she had never done so.
“I have never in my life registered as a voter as I never saw a reason to vote till now. When my friend posted about phantom voters, I was surprised to see my name registered as a voter.
“I migrated to Adelaide a year ago, and I am working as a doctor here. I do not intend to come back to vote. Please help me to remove my name from the roll,” she pleaded.
Volunteers come knocking
Another person is Naavin Mohandass, who has been living abroad for six years, also discovered that someone had registered his name without his authorisation.
“A letter was sent to my home reminding me of my duty as a voter and my parents were left puzzled as I had not registered,” he said via email.
The final case in Klang is that of Parveen Kaur Sindhu, 23, from Southern Park, Klang who was surprised to receive political party volunteers at her home who handed over a letter from the Selangor government.
“The letter stated that I was a registered voter, and the details of the appropriate constituency were given. I was completely shocked, as I’ve never registered as a voter.
“I recall receiving Christmas/New Year/Chinese New Year greeting cards from our prime minister – and they all had the same constituency details. But at that time, I just threw the cards away and did not investigate further,” she said
Parveen said she logged on to the EC website to check her details and discovered she had been registered.
“This is plain intrusion of an individual’s privacy and I believe the EC has failed in its responsibility of ensuring fair and ethical registration and voting process.
“If I had not come to know about my registration status, I would have assumed I am not registered, and not voted. What would then have happened to my vote?” she asked.
Oon Lee Peng, a beautician, complained that she had been working in Singapore and discovered someone had registered her as a voter in Bukit Bendera, Penang.
As she has not been back home since 2002 she was wondering how someone could have registered her name.
So she wrote to the EC on March 25 requesting that her name be removed from the Bukit Bendera constituency and transferred to her address at the Kota Damansara state seat in the Subang parliamentary constituency.
Oon has yet to receive the courtesy of a response from the electoral body.
All these discrepancies are highlighted a week before nomination day. Nationwide polls will be held on May 5.
[divide]This article was first published on Malaysiakini. The Online Citizen would like to thank Malaysiakini for allowing us to republish their article.
