SEREMBAN, April 13 ― Police advised voters in the Rantau state by-election today to come out early to cast their ballot papers to avoid traffic congestion in the afternoon.

Seremban district deputy police chief Supt Mohd Rosli Ishak said the traffic flow was expected to be congested as several polling centres (PDMs) were located near the main road of the Rantau town.

He said nine officers and 56 traffic policemen were tasked with ensuring smooth traffic across all 14 PDMs.

"We also want members of the public to comply with the instructions given by personnel in charge to ensure smooth traffic and voting process,” he told reporters after reviewing the voting process at the Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Tamil) Rantau here today.

He also advised party supporters to comply with the rules set and avoid creating any provocation at the PDMs.

The 14 PDMs with 53 polling streams will close at 5.30pm.

A total of 20,793 ordinary voters were eligible to vote, after 96 per cent of the 110 early voters comprising police and military personnel as well as their spouses cast their ballots on Tuesday.

The Rantau by-election sees a four-cornered fight between four contestants ― Dr S. Streram, 60, of Pakatan Harapan (PH), Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, 63, of Barisan Nasional (BN) and independents R. Malarvizhi, 51, a housewife, and Mohd Nor Yassin, 67, a former lecturer.

The by-election was called after the Federal Court dismissed an appeal filed by Mohamad to set aside an Election Court (EC) decision to declare his victory in the 14th general election (GE14) null and void. ― Bernama