The Election Commission (EC) can avoid having to conduct separate polls for Selangor provided it “cleaned up” the electoral roll first.

In a statement today, Faekah Husin, the political secretary to Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim, said this should be the EC’s priority and not harp on how much it would cost ratepayers if polls were not held concurrently.

“Holding elections separately (from the general election) will not arise if the EC vigorously clean the electoral roll which is increasingly (tainted).

“Even though a lot of evidence have been adduced, but the EC has failed to take appropriate action and instead gave strange excuses which are unreasonable,” she said.

Faekah was responding on a report carried by mStar , which quotes deputy EC chief Wan Ahmad Wan Omar warning that separate polls for Selangor would cost RM30 million.

Commenting on the price tag, Faekah said that the EC cannot use this excuse to restrict the state government from exercising its right to decide when to go to polls.

'Stop being BN's spokesperson'

She said that the EC must realised that the decision to hold off the polls stems from EC’s failures, which includes ignoring recommendations by election reform pressure group Bersih 2.0.

“If they want to talk about tax money, what about the RM250 million of tax money abused by the NFC (National Feedlot Corporation) and the Tajuddin Ramli’s RM589 million debt written off by the federal government?

“What about the sale of the MEX Highway ? Will the federal government recover its RM900 million grant from Maju Holdings? Are these not a waste of tax payer funds?” she asked.

Faekah said that Wan Ahmad’s comments were political in nature and he should resign from his position if he insists on doing so.

“We urge the EC to stop being BN’s spokesperson. If the EC wants to be respected, it must do its job responsibly and honestly because they would be repaid in kind,” she said.