Two DAP members lodge reports with ROS, alleging fraud in party elections

PUTRAJAYA: Two DAP life members lodged reports Monday with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) over what they alleged to be manipulation of the party's election results.

David Dass Aseerpatham and Mahendran Krishnan, vice-chairman and secretary of the party's Ladang Paroi branch respectively, lodged the reports at the ROS office here around noon.

"I hope the ROS will take the necessary action to investigate the matter and help the membership to settle the dispute and prevent the manipulation of the results of the recent DAP elections under the Societies Act," David Dass said in his report, which he showed to reporters outside the ROS office.

He said many members and branch leaders were extremely unhappy over the alleged manipulation of the party election results, and that the report was lodged after he learnt from media reports that party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had refused to hold fresh elections.

Many branch leaders had called for fresh elections to the DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC) but these requests were totally ignored, he said.

After the CEC election results were announced on Dec 15, with none of the eight Malay candidates elected, the DAP announced on Jan 3, some 19 days later, a technical error in the vote tabulation and declared defeated candidate Zairul Khir Johari Abdullah as a duly elected member of the CEC.

"This is a clear case of election manipulation, and it is also against the democratic process and the party's slogan of competency, accountability and transparency (CAT)," David Dass said.

David Dass said he had been a DAP member for seven years and Mahendran, for 18 years, and that both of them were delegates at the DAP convention and had voted in the election of the 20 CEC members.

Mahendran said he lodged the report with ROS in the spirit of CAT to resolve the dispute as the alleged manipulation of the election results had caused injustice and damaged the party's image. - Bernama