Shahruddin Abdul Hamid, 52, who today failed in his bid to become an independent candidate in the Bagan Pinang by-election, has attributed it to a "technical error".

calon bebas Shahruddin Shahruddin, who is fondly called ‘Capt’, said the Election Commission (EC) rejected his nomination papers because his proposer, Ros Hamdan, was not from the constituency.

"The proposer, who is also my wife, is a voter in the Lukut constituency and this caused the EC to ask me to find a replacement proposer within half-an-hour," he said when contacted by Bernama here.

Shahruddin, who used to work in the shipping industry, arrived at the nomination centre at the Port Dickson Municipal Council hall here at 9.10am, before leaving it about 20 minutes later.

Replacement proposal found but...

The former PKR member said he succeeded in finding a replacement proposer by failed to find a commissioner of oaths to attest the nomination forms.

"All the commissioner of oaths offices here were closed. I apologise to my supporters for not being able to contest the by-election," added Shahruddin, who only yesterday declared that he was leaving PKR because he was adamant about contesting the by-election.

With him out of the picture, the by-election, polling of which will be on Oct 11, will see a straight fight between the BN’s Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, who is also former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar, and Zulkefly Mohamad Omar, the Negeri Sembilan PAS commissioner.

- Bernama