The Elections Commission (EC) announced today the polling date for the Hulu Selangor by-election as April 25, with nomination day being April 17.

Speaking at a press conference at the commission's headquarters in Putrajaya this morning, EC chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said eight days have been set aside for what is expected to be intense campaigning by the contesting parties.

Quizzed about early campaigning or political corruption which may occur because of intervention by either Pakatan-led Selangor or the BN federal government, Abdul Aziz said that it is not exactly within their purview.

"We have neither the experience nor the authority to deal with corruption. That is the purview of another agency. But we hope that the agency in question will cooperate fully with us to tackle this issue if it arises."

 "Well, even their name is the same as ours," joked the EC chief, referring to the Malay acronym of his commission (SPR) which is just one letter less than that of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (SPRM).

However, he did announce the formation of six EC monitoring teams to enforce and monitor the campaigning by both sides and make sure all conform to election guidelines during the Apr 17 to Apr 25 campaigning period.

 Abdul Aziz added that the standard election protocols and guidelines will be enforced and everyone will be expected to follow them.

No amendments or special guidelines have been mulled as of now. However, he did say that the Hulu Selangor be-election will be a test case for the EC to adapt its rules with the more aggressive campaigning seen in previous by-elections.

"We will see if we have to modify existing guidelines to suit present circumstances."

Abdul Aziz added that the voter's list to be used for the by-election will be the 2009 listing updated till Mar 26.

In total, he explained there are 64,500 registered voters. 63,701 0f which are normal voters with 799 postal voters. 

  'H1N1 outbreak negligible'

On the recent outbreak of H1N1 in the area, Abdul Aziz downplayed the effect of what he termed as isolated cases to the by-election.

"We have been informed by the Selangor health department that this is nothing serious. The affected patients have been removed from hospitals and are in quarantine.

" The risk is so far minimal. But the health department will continue to monitor the cases and update us as necessary."

The PKR-held parliamentary seat fell vacant with the passing of 71-year-old Zainal Abidin Ahmad, who succumbed to brain cancer last week.

In the 2008 general elections, Zainal beat MIC deputy president G Palanivel by a tissue-thin majority of 198 votes.

The constituency, located north of Selangor, is already a hotbed of political activity.

azlan Last Friday, Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim kicked off the bid to defend the marginal seat with the launch of the 'Save Malaysia' campaign in Kota Kubu Bharu, while Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is scheduled to visit a school in Ulu Yam later today.

Hulu Selangor is a semi-urban mixed seat of 63,539 voters of whom 53.9 percent are Malay, Chinese (26.7 percent) and Indians (19 percent).

BN has a good chance of winning back the seat as it won all three state seats under the Hulu Selangor constituency in 2008 - Kuala Kubu Bharu (MCA), Batang Kali (Umno) and Hulu Bernam (Umno).

This will be the country's 10th by-election since the 2008 general elections, with Pakatan Rakyat winning seven of the contests while BN bagged two.

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