KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — Terengganu Umno chief Datuk Seri Ahmad Said said that the party has filed three election petitions at the state’s High Court over alleged vote buying in three constituencies.

During a press conference today, he claimed that voters in Kemaman, Kuala Terengganu and Marang had allegedly received between RM500 and RM1,000 per household from Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidates in the last general election (GE15).

"I have never seen in my nine times of contesting a general election such a large amount of money being distributed to voters during an election campaign,” he said during a press conference at the Umno headquarters in the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTCKL).

Umno lawyer Amin Othman said close to 20 witnesses in the three constituencies are willing to cooperate with the party and testify against PN candidates who won those seats.

"Most of the witnesses are new voters aged 18 to 21 years old,” he said.

Ahmad, who is also a former Terengganu mentri besar, said that part of three forms of state fiscal assistance dubbed i-Belia, i-Siswa, and i-Pencen were distributed at least two to three days before polling day.

"I still remember Perikatan supporters taking to the streets in Kemaman on the eve of election day, like they were already celebrating their win,” Ahmad added.

Ahmad who ran for office in Kemaman against PAS candidate Che Alias Hamid lost by a significant 27,179 votes.

PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, who contested Marang, won the seat with 41,729 votes against Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Jasmira Othman, Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Ustaz Azhar, and Pejuang’s Zarawi Sulong.

In Kuala Terengganu, PAS candidate Datuk Amzad Hashim won the seat with a convincing 40,907 majority after a four-cornered fight against BN’s Datuk Cikgu Zubir, PH’s Datuk Raja Bahrin and Pejuang’s Mohamad Abu Bakar Bin Muda.

Previously, Umno information chief Isham Jalil was reported as saying that the party had filed three petitions with the Election Commission (EC) over three seats that were allegedly won through vote buying during last November’s national polls.