JOHOR BARU, March 12 ― Johor PKR chief Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh today questioned the actions of several political parties in Tangkak, after they allegedly set up voter canvassing booths, or popularly known as pondok panas, in violation of the Election Offences Act 1954.
He said the violations took place in the Gambir state seat.
Syed Ibrahim claimed that there were representatives or members of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition who had deliberately opened the voter canvassing booths within 50m of the SK Sagil Kampung polling centre in Gambir.
Apart from that, the Ledang MP claimed that BN ran a stall providing food and beverages near the polling centre which displayed the coalition’s flag.
“Indeed, there are still pondok panas here. There are still gatherings at the voter canvassing booths within 50m of the polling centre.
“This is an offence under Section 26 of the Election Offences Act 1954,” he said in a video uploaded to his Facebook account today.
Syed Ibrahim said he took the initiative to meet Election Commission (EC) representatives over the issue as the offences were very clear.
“I met the EC election officer and told him immediate action must be taken,” he said, adding that a dispersal order was issued, but the people involved soon regrouped again.
Syed Ibrahim said this is a perennial bad habit as well as an unwelcome culture for him.
He also claimed that even Perikatan Nasional (PN) had a voter canvassing booth in front of a school.
“If they still refuse to disperse, the EC election officer should report the matter to the authorities, including the police.
The EC opened a total of 1,021 polling centres with 4,638 voting streams for the balloting process today.
Johor has 56 state constituencies, with more than 2.59 million voters who are eligible to cast their ballots today.
