KLUANG, Sept 28 — Voting for the Mahkota state by-election has concluded, with all 20 polling stations officially closing at 6pm today after opening at 8am.

Counting began at the polling centres once the ballot papers were transported to the official tallying centre at Dewan Tunku Ibrahim Ismail here.

Data from the Election Commission (EC) shows that 61,274 voters were eligible to cast their ballots today.

Early voting took place last Tuesday, while postal ballots were issued on September 15.

The Mahkota constituency has 66,318 registered voters, with a demographic breakdown of 56 per cent Malays, 34 per cent Chinese, 8 per cent Indians, and the remainder from other groups.

As of 4pm, the EC reported that 47.16 per cent of voters had cast their ballots.

Kluang experienced good weather in the morning, though heavy rain in the afternoon matched the forecast by the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia).

The Mahkota by-election, held within the Kluang parliamentary constituency, is a head-to-head contest between Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah and Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Mohamad Haizan Jaafar.

The by-election was triggered by the death of the incumbent, Datuk Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain, 63, on 2 August. — Bernama