Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) vice-president Saifuddin Nasution Ismail today lodged a police report against a police officer who barred him and two PAS candidates from entering a nomination centre to submit their election papers in Kedah.

He said the report was lodged with the Alor Setar police headquarters against one ASP Mokhtar who allegedly prevented him and PAS candidates Amiruddin Hamzah and Phahrolrazi Zawawi from entering the Muda Agriculture Authority building.

"The police officer had barred us from entering the building claiming that he was instructed by the Election Commission's returning officer (RO) not to allow us in until further notice.

"We had to make personal efforts to gain entry which we did - about 35 minutes before the nomination period ended," said Saifuddin who will be contesting for the Kubang Rotan state seat and the Padang Serai parliamentary seat.

He suspected something amiss when RO Ismail Hamid denied giving such instruction to the police officer.

Relating the incident, Saifuffin said he, Amiruddin, Phahrolrazi and nine others (their respective seconders) reached the building's main entrance at 8.55am but were told by the police officer that Barisan Nasional's candidates had already arrived, therefore they had to wait outside.

After waiting for 10 minutes, they asked the officer to allow them into the building but he refused again.

"We argued that time was running out and that we may not have time to rectify any errors. We stressed that there is nothing in the election laws that can bar us from entering the nomination centre but the officer simply ignored us," he said when contacted.

Supporters angered

Meanwhile, Amiruddin who will be defending his Anak Bukit state seat, claimed that if he had not managed to sneak in via the building's side entrance, the politicians may have never made it.

"I sneaked pass the police officer and entered the building through the side entrance. I then contacted the assistant RO who took steps to allow us in. When we confronted the RO, he expressed his regret on what had happened and apologised but denied directing the police to deny us entrance," he said.

"I wonder if we had arrived first, would the police have treated the BN candidates - led by Kedah Mentri Besar Syed Abdul Razak Syed Zain (who will be facing Saifuddin in Kubang Rotan) as how they treated us. I seriously doubt so," he added.

The PAS leader said he suspects that the incident was deliberately carried out to anger their supporters, who were also present.

"Naturally, we were angry that we were made to wait unnecessarily and upset with the arrogance of the police. I am sure the media will turn the incident against us," he added.

Asked if there were any untoward incidents, Amiruddin said he heard the sound of glass shattering but did not know what it was.

"We don't know what was broken or who did it. The 12 of us were rushing to the nomination centre when we heard the sound of glass breaking," he claimed.

Commenting on the incident, Saifuddin said he was informed by several media representatives that their news angle would be 'opposition supporters turn violent'.

"Of course there's nothing to stop the media from filing such reports. But we will distribute the police report to the people to tell them the truth," he said.

According to Bernama , a glass door was smashed and the culprits were believed to be opposition supporters.