The Election Commission has come under fire again for not gazetting the second quarter voters list in a Penang constituency because of  questions raised over several names in the roll.

Komtar assemblyperson Ng Wei Aik said several objections related to new voters in the Kepala Batas electoral roll were raised recently and that gave the EC a reason to withhold approval of the list.

The list affects 1,121 new voters, and 188 names of people who have changed their addresses, while it also contains 301 names of voters who have been deleted from the list, Ng said.

“This practice is very unfair to the new voters whose identities are not in doubt. For example, there may only be complaints against 10 voters, but the whole list is not gazetted,” he lamented.

“It has affected many whom the Pakatan Rakyat or DAP had helped to register between April and June this year,” he added.

NONE Ng ( right ) urged the parliamentary select committee on electoral reform to scrutinise the matter seriously when it starts it work early next month.

He claimed the Sungai Petani parliamentary constituency in Kedah suffered a similar fate, with the matter taking nine months to be resolved.

This approach, he said, could deter people from filing complaints on the voters list.

“We want to encourage more people to vote but then every complaint we file may affect the entire list, especially the new voters,” he added.

Ng proposed that the EC sets aside the names objected to instead of penalising the entire list.

“Don’t spoil the whole soup,” quipped the political secretary to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Ng also said that voters who wished to vote in another constituency may do so by filling in a form, which could be downloaded from the EC website.

Political parties can now assist voters to make the change, whereas in the past, an EC officer’s presence was compulsory for such an amendment.

However, he lamented that come Nov 1, new voters needed to provide a photocopy of their identity cards while registering to vote.

“This may be a little inconvenient for the people, but the EC needs the copy of the IC to check if the voters are genuine and not those who have died,” he explained.

‘The other side of Budget 2012'

On another matter, Ng said the DAP would be organising ceramah (political talks) to inform the people about ‘the other side of Budget 2012'.

He said the ceramah would be multi-lingual, with Lim, who is DAP secretary-general, and several MPs and assemblypersons being among the speakers.

“BN may not want to term it an election budget but we do, as there are goodies for everyone, to maintain the support for the coalition at the national level,” he said.

He urged the people to wear yellow while attending the ceramah at the Batu Lanchang community hall on Oct 16, to show their firm support for free and fair elections.

Ng was accompanied by Batu Kawan DAP secretary CK Siong during the press conference this morning at the party’s headquarters on Jalan Talipon.

'Stealthy EC rule changes hampering voter registration'