A DAP state constituency candidate today lodged a report at the Damansara police station alleging the presence of phantom voters around Section 17 in Petaling Jaya.

Bukit Gasing challenger, John Chung, who reported his findings at 5.20pm, said voter cards with Barisan Nasional (BN) incumbent Dr Lim Thuang Seng's picture were found to contain the names of people who have never occupied No 1079, Jalan 17/27, a shop house.

Voter cards are postcards sent by the ruling BN coalition to registered voters informing them the location of their polling stations.

According to Chung, the ground floor shop house trades in religious paraphernalia while a hair salon occupies the first floor.

"The owner who has been running his business there for more than 20 years told me that no one by those names had ever lived or worked there past or present," read Chung's police report, a copy of which was made available to malaysiakini .

"Based on this, I have grounds to believe that all six names on the BN voter cards are phantom voters," he said adding the cards carried the names of one Tan Huey Kien, Chin Cheong Fong, Wong Chin Yong, Lye Kam Chuen, Lo Sow Chun and Lo Sow Kwan.

Their polling centre as stated on the voter cards, copies of which Chung attached to the police report, was SRK Sri Damai, Jalan 17/13 in Petaling Jaya.

Chung hoped the police would conduct an immediate investigation into the matter as it was a serious breach of the Election Act.

"It also denies the people their right to a clean, free and fair election," he added.

Banners removed

Meanwhile over in PJ Selatan, Keadilan candidate R Sivarasa's four banners carrying a message in Mandarin asking voters to 'reject' the MCA and the BN if they wanted to save the SJK(C) Damansara continues to be a prolonged thorny issue among locals.

Yesterday, the an Election Commission enforcement team pulled down four banners for using the word 'reject' which it said could incite people against the MCA and BN. The other reason the team gave was that the banner did not have details of the owners of the banners as required by local council by-laws..

Contacted today, Sivarasa said they were forced to buy new banners after the EC team refused to return the seized ones.

"I certainly hope the EC will respect the law and ensure a fair election process," he said adding BN leaders were also guilty of urging voters to 'reject' the opposition but the EC had not taken any action.

"Pak Lah (BN chairperson and Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) himself is guilty of telling voters to reject opposition candidates and vote for the BN, as widely reported in the media.

"This applies to most other BN leaders too," he said. "Likewise, we are also entitled to tell people to reject the BN."

The EC could not be reached for comments on both the above issues.