'Respond to our demands in 48 hours, or else...'

PAS Youth has given the Election Commission 48 hours to respond to their demands regarding alleged dubious movement of voters in Kelantan, or risk legal actions that could prevent the current draft electoral roll from being gazetted.

PAS deputy youth chief Ahmad Fadhli Saari said their two demands, as recorded in a memorandum submitted to the EC this morning, are for all movement of voters in Kelantan to be suspended pending a full inquiry, and for all political parties to be provided with copies of the draft electoral roll.

"If the EC fails to respond, we will not discount the possibility of filing an injunction in court to prevent the draft electoral roll from being gazetted," he later told a press conference at the EC headquarters in Putrajaya.

The move, he said, was similar to legal actions taken by the Selangor state-government against EC's ongoing nationwide re-delineation exercise which it claimed to be unconstitutional and defective.

On May 18, Kelantan PAS had first claimed that voters have been moved around in masses in the electoral roll of the state, alleging a possible conspiracy involving the EC and state Barisan Nasional to topple the PAS-led state government.

PAS Youth election director Nurul Islam Mohamed Yusoff said further evidence has also been appended to back-up its claims, including grants from the Tanah Merah Land Office which showed how voters were transferred to an empty plot along Jalan Hospital.

"Even the house next door to the plot is an abandoned house," he said.

He added that the mass movement of voters were detected from the Pengkalan Chepa parliament seat to Machang and from Rantau Panjang to Tanah Merah - as well as to several state seats currently held by PAS state executive councillors.

"Similar issues have been raised on other states but today we are highlighting what is happening in Kelantan.

"We also brought all the evidence so EC can take further action," he said.

Other issues include how one phone number is shared by 10 people and voters were transferred despite not being a permanent resident in the area.

Ahmad Fadhli, together with Nurul Islam and Kelantan PAS Youth election director Razuan Awang Hamad, earlier submitted their memorandum to EC corporate communications head Mohd Sabri Abdullah.

When met later, Sabri declined further comments, aside from promising to raise the issues with EC's top management.

He also declined to reveal the number of similar complaints received by the EC, on alleged dubious movement of voters as well as request from political parties for copies of the draft electoral roll.

The EC had last month confirmed that it is no longer providing copies of draft electoral rolls during the display period, as it feels that the public display is sufficient to inform voters of their status.- Mkini