PETALING JAYA, JULY 1- PKR’s candidate for the Tapah parliamentary constituency K Vasantha Kumar said he will only send a complaint letter naming the Orang Asli who have been removed from the electoral roll when the Election Commission (EC) heads resign.
He was responding to the EC’s statement on Friday that a formal letter containing the names and identity card (IC) numbers of the Orang Asli who have been removed from the electoral roll be submitted before the commission can start investigations.
“I am not going to furnish the information to EC as an official complaint because EC has no integrity in responsibly running GE13,” Vasantha Kumar told FMT.
“One weakness is the implementation of the indelible ink which was easily washed off after being applied on the index finger. “The EC has again lied and not denied that the ink had food-colouring which was mentioned by BN minister Shahidan Kassim,” he added.
Vasantha Kumar accused the EC of being inefficient in running the election in the Tapah constituency and claimed he was beaten and chased by the Federal Reserve Unit personnel on the directive of EC’s returning officer in Tapah, Razali Bakar He said Gombak MP Azmin Ali and other Pakatan Rakyat MPs would raise the issue in Parliament.
The Orang Asli of Kuala Woh, Tapah, have alleged their names were removed from the electoral roll despite confirmation of their eligibility to vote.
About 50 villagers from Kampung Batu 7, Kampung Sungai Kebdrong, Kampung Puswoh and Kampung Enpang also claimed that they were prevented from leaving their villages on polling day by Rela personnel and BN members.
Vasantha Kumar has already filed an election petition to challenge the election result. He had also lodged six police reports throughout the campaign period on threats received by his assistants.
Vasantha Kumar lost the Tapah parliamentary seat to the incumbent, MIC’s M Saravanan by 7,927 votes.
