Bukit Gelugor by-election: Rep barred from entering polling centre following confusion

GEORGE TOWN: Penang state executive councillor Phee Boon Poh was barred from entering a polling centre here during the Bukit Gelugor by-election on Sunday for fear that he might be fishing for votes.

Phee, who is State Welfare, Environment and Caring Society Committee chairman arrived at SMK Air Itam around 9am and was waiting for Ramkarpal Singh, when he was stopped from entering the centre by an Election Commission (EC) official.

He was spotted in his Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS) purple vest standing outside the polling centre. 

Phee, who is also Sungai Puyu assemblyman, said certain voters were confused over directions and he was just showing them the way in the school. 

He said Parti Cinta Malaysia candidate for the Bukit Gelugor by-election Huan Cheng Guan had lodged a complaint to the retaining officer that the voluntary unit was not legal and was campaigning on behalf of DAP.

"This is not the case. The voluntary unit was set up with the approval of the state assembly," he said, adding that the presence of the unit was to deter criminal acts like snatch thefts.

The Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat fell vacant when its MP Karpal Singh was killed in a road mishap on April 17. 

The by-election sees a four-cornered fight between DAP candidate Ramkarpal, Parti Cinta Malaysia vice-president Datuk Huan Cheng Guan and two Independent candidates, Mohd Nabi Bux Mohd Abdul Sathar and Abu Backer Sidek Mohammad Zan.

There are 82,431 registered voters in Bukit Gelugor with 74.33% (61,267) Chinese, 14.45% (11,913) Malays, 10.73% (8,848) Indians and 0.49% (403) of other races.