Perak DAP has accepted the Election Commission's dare to meet over allegations of the latter's lack of neutrality.

Commission chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said over the weekend that any party claiming the commission was biased toward the government can meet him to argue their case.

In reply, Perak DAP chief Ngeh Hoo Kam issued a press statement yesterday accepting the challenge and throwing the ball back in the commission's court to fix a date for the meeting.

His reply followed that of DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock ( photo ) who o­n Monday said he is seeking a meeting with Abdul Rashid over vast changes made to the initial redelineation proposal for Kota Melaka after hearing appeals from the Melaka state government.

Kerk, who is Kota Melaka member of Parliament, claimed that the changes have affected the DAP stronghold.

Legal requirements met

Meanwhile, Ngeh alleged that the commission had failed to hear Perak DAP's grouses against the state's redelineation exercise.

He said the state DAP had met the legal requirements as it had gathered more than 100 complaints each from the parliamentary constituencies of Ipoh Timur, Ipoh Barat and Grik.

The period for hearing the objections was over but no date has been fixed to hear the objections raised from these constituencies, he noted.

Ngeh accused the EC of "unfair delineation exercise [conducted] to the disadvantage of the DAP" as the support for the DAP, he claimed, has been the strongest in Ipoh Timur, Ipoh Barat and Batu Gajah.

Ngeh said the commission has proposed the increase of o­nly o­ne seat in Perak although Ipoh Timur and Ipoh Barat are the most densely populated constituencies, with 77,884 and 71,355 voters respectively in the most recent general election in 1999.

"It is o­nly logical that the new constituency be created in Ipoh," said Ngeh, who is also the party's disciplinary chairperson.

The commission is proposing a new parliamentary seat, Lenggong, to be created in Grik which in 1999 has o­nly 23,999 voters.

The new Lenggong constituency has o­nly 21,248 voters. According to Ngeh, Grik and Lenggong are Umno strongholds.

Racial considerations

The DAP leader was also unhappy with the apparent racial considerations behind the redelineation.

"[The commission] gives so much weightage to voters in predominantly Malay area like Lenggong and Grik. o­ne vote in Grik and Lenggong is equivalent to four votes in Ipoh.

"Such glaring discrimination gives the impression that the Election Commission acted based o­n racial considerations," he said.

Ngeh also accused the Election Commission of "siding the present government" in its proposal to increase the present Batu Gajah voters from 57,406 in 1999 to 71,077.

He said voters from areas like Taman Pertama in Ipoh Barat, which voted for the Barisan Nasional (BN) government [in 1999], will be added to the Batu Gajah constituency.

"DAP believes that the Election Commission is biased and is trying to assist the BN to wrestle the Batu Gajah seat [from us] in the next general election," he said.