KUANTAN: A possible multi-cornered fight is shaping up in Cameron Highlands as the Election Commission (EC) handed out five nomination forms already.
State EC director Datuk Zamree Hamli said as of today, five nomination forms for the Cameron Highlands parliamentary by-election on Jan 26 had been purchased by representatives from various political parties.
"There are talks that some independent candidates are interested to contest so we expect more nomination forms will be sold. Anyone interested in contesting can still get the forms from us," he said when contacted today.
Zamree said, a total of 811 election workers will be deployed during the by-election and two helicopters will be used to fly ballot boxes from rural areas to the vote tallying centres.
"Out of the 29 polling centres, four centres are scheduled to close at 2pm due to number of voters in the area while the rest at 5pm on Jan 26.
"A total of 32,008 registered voters in the parliamentary constituency are eligible to cast their votes on polling day," he said, adding a total of 247 voters, including policemen, will be voting early on Jan 22.
The Cameron Highlands by-election is the fifth to be called after the 14th General Election (GE14) following a decision by the Election Court to nullify Barisan Nasional candidate, Datuk C. Sivarrajh's victory.
The court had ruled that during the election, there were elements of bribery involved in a bid to sway voters in the area.
Sivarraajh, who faced a five-corner fight in GE14, won the seat with 10,307 votes, while M.Manogaran from DAP garnered 9,710. PAS candidate Wan Mahadir Wan Mahmud polled 3,587 votes, Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s (PSM) B Suresh Kumar (680), and Berjasa candidate Mohd Tahir Kassim (81).
To date, MyPPP president Tan Sri M. Kayveas and Manogaran have been announced as candidates for the by-election while BN have yet to announce their candidate.