By Athi Shankar - Free Malaysia Today,GEORGE TOWN: The ‘Team Reformis’ sweep of all positions up for grabs in the hotly contested Bayan Baru PKR division polls on Saturday could well turn out to be a hollow victory after all.
Helmed by Pantai Jerejak assemblyman Sim Tze Tzin, ‘Team Reformis'’ triumph has been marred by alleged electoral malpractises, vote-rigging, money politics, cheating and biasness of election officials.
Even during the polling day, various quarters within the division have raised the allegations.
The spark finally caught fire when Sim, the former political secretary to PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim, scored a shocking landslide victory to capture the coveted chairman post against outgoing division vice-chairman M Ngananasagaran.
The state representative received a whopping 499 votes against Ngnanasegaran’s 265 votes.
Sim’s victory and its margin have raised many eyebrows in and outside the division.
What's more puzzling is the high number of votes received by 'Team Reformis' and the low number of votes received by Ngnanasegaran team, tagged 'Team Rakyat.'
Observers claimed that the large voter-turnout - the biggest recorded at any PKR division polls so far - was
dominated by Ngnanasegaran supporters.Official statistics, announced by an election official Sharifah Shahidah, stated only 792 voters cast their votes.
However, many observers and insiders counter-argued at least 1,200 would have cast their ballots.
“I was observing the electoral process for nearly five hours. The voter-turnout was like a mini general election and majority were Ngnanasegaran supporters.
“It was never below 800 and Ngnanasegaran should have won. Something amiss here,” claimed a PKR leader from another division.
Missing ballot boxes
Rumours of ‘missing ballot boxes’ are widely circulating in PKR circle.
Speculations are rife that at least three ballot boxes were switched with ballot boxes containing pro-‘Team Reformis’ votes.
Two disgruntled division members have already lodged police reports against alleged unethical electoral process.Annuar Ismail, 33, who won a committee berth in the polls, and S Thivagaran, 32, who lost in the Youth wing deputy chief contest, lodged their reports at the Sungai Nibong police station at 7.30pm on Sunday.
In his report, Annuar alleged that the voting process was dragged on from 4pm dateline until 5.30pm without any official notice from the division leadership headed by acting chairman, Tan Seng Keat, a staunch supporter of Sim.
Photocopies of ballot papers were allegedly used in the voting when the team of election officials suddenly ran out of original copies.
The photocopied ballot papers in a way substantiate allegation of more than 800 voters cast their votes.
The number of votes counted and cast too did not tally.
Another allegation was that many voters, especially unwitting senior citizens from Ngnanasegaran’s faction, were not given ballot papers for the chairman, deputy chairman and vice-chairman contests.
“Women and young male voters were also not given the ballot papers for women and youth wings’ contests,” alleged Annuar.
Thivagaran alleged in his report, he was not given the Youth ballot sheet.
Annuar claimed that party supporters and NGO activists closely associated with ‘Team Reformis’ were used as election workers by the official election team.
‘Team Reformis’ supporters were also allegedly engaged to conduct registration checks and handle subscription payments from members.
‘Team Reformis’ has also been alleged to have paid RM2 each for the subscriptions of its voters.
Supported by returning officer
Another allegation is that the voting hall was strangely locked for nearly 30 minutes after the balloting process was over apparently because “the election team needed a rest.”
No one was allowed inside except for the election team officials, which allegedly included those from ‘Team Reformis.’
Annuar also alleged that Sharifah had shouted and ordered him out of the hall during the ballot counting process when he raised a question on her verification on the committee polls results data form.
Another serious allegation is that at least two election workers have apparently ‘misguided’ some unwitting senior citizens, apparently Ngnanasegaran backers, to vote for ‘Team Reformis’.
The incident sparked a row between Ngnanasegaran supporters and the election team, and nearly turned ugly but for the timely intervention by the candidate to calm his men.
Ngnanasegaran supporters claimed that they have unearthed more evidence, to prove claims of more serious electoral malpractises deployed by ‘Team Reformis’ with tacit backing by the election team headed by returning officer Hashim Ishak.
“We will reveal the evidence in due time,” they told FMT.
They would soon lodge official complaints to the party election steering committee headed by Molly Cheah.
The allegations have convinced insiders and observers to labelled Bayan Baru election as the dirtiest PKR division polls held so far.
“We thought these things can only happen in Umno elections. We can’t believe that it’s happening in PKR, a party for reform,” said a local PKR leader.
Bayan Baru now joins Jerai, Sungai Petani, Merbok and Tasek Gelugor as divisional elections marred by serious allegations of electoral malpractises.
Apparently the victims are potential supporters of the party deputy presidency hopeful Zaid Ibrahim.
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