Padang Serai polls set for Dec 7

KULIM: Padang Serai Independent candidate Ananda AK forked out much of his savings while campaign for GE15.

Now, he does not know if he can afford to remain in the contest.

The election for the constituency, some 20km from Seberang Prai, has been put off following the death of the Pakatan Harapan candidate and incumbent Karupaiya Muthusami.

The polls will now be held on Dec 7 with fresh nominations being done again on Nov 24.

Early voting will be held anew on Dec 3. A new 13-day campaign will also be held.

For Ananda, 38, it means precious campaign funds being spent for naught.

“After two weeks of campaigning, it does affect me financially. I had to fork out my own money,” he said.

Ananda said he was saddened by Karupaiya’s death but also felt the pain as an Independent who had done a lot of work and spent much of his money.

He said he still wanted to be the voice of the people of Padang Serai but would now have to re-think his strategy.

As a mark of respect for Karupaiya’s family, Pakatan will only announce its new candidate after GE15.

PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil said the party’s elections and selection committee would meet to choose a new candidate after the elections.

“So far, the party has not decided on anyone. We will decide after the polls,” he said, adding that the party’s top two – Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Rafizi Ramli – would have the final say.

Karupaiya, an ex-soldier, won the seat in 2018 with a majority of 8,813 votes against MCA’s Datuk Leong Yong Kong and PAS’ Muhammad Sobri Osman.

The constituency has 133,867 registered voters.

A check at Election Commission’s GE15 Dashboard yesterday showed that the names of Padang Serai candidates have been removed.