Defying a call, supposedly from the police to withdraw his report lodged months earlier that his son residing abroad had been illegally registered as a voter, retired engineer K Sivakumar filed a judicial review application yesterday.

Sivakumar filed his application at the High Court in Shah Alam, accompanied by incumbent Klang MP Charles Santiago.

His son Dinesh, 32, who lives and works in Britain, had complained that unkown to him, he has been registered as a voter.

Sivakumar, 64, a retiree, said a woman police officer called him on Tuesday morning, saying this was a small matter as anyone's IC number could be found anywhere to be used to register voters.

She told him to come to the police station, which he took to be a hint to withdraw the police report he had made.

"I told her that I had lodged the police report on Jan 31 and why only now was she asking me to come to the station again. She said that the police tried to call me several times but did not receive any response.

"I told her I did not receive any calls and that my handphone number is in the report.

Dismissed as small matter

"I also told her that it was not a small matter as someone had used my son's identity card to register him and thatb this was fraud or a case of forgery.

"I told her that I could go to the police station," Sivakumar said, adding that he instead went to the Shah Alam High Court to file for the judicial review.

On Tuesday, Selangor EC chief Zulkifli Abdul Rahman admitted to the presence of dubious voters in the electoral roll of the state.

The judicial review filing was carried out by the firm of SN Fam and Co yesterday, in which Dinesh named the EC and the EC chief registrar as respondents.

He is seeking a mandamus order to compel the respondents to drop his name from the electoral roll, and for the EC to follow Regulation 25 of the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulations 2002 in doing so, and other relief deemed fit by the court.

In his application, Dinesh claims that the EC was wrong in law in not dropping his name from the roll, even though the Selangor EC had been informed that he had not registered as a voter.

He also said that he did not delegate power to anyone else to register him as a voter on his behalf and that the respondents knew of the error.

'Not to be taken lightly'

He also did not supply a copy of his identity card to facilitate the registration and questioned how his registration could have come about.

NONE Charles ( left ), in commenting on the case, said he took Sivakumar to the Selangor EC wanting to see the registration form but they said that it was with their headquarters in Putrajaya.

The Klang MP said the father wanted to have his son's name removed from the roll, but the EC said it could not do so.

"I told them they could do so for blogger Papagamo and was told that the matter was now a police case as a report had been lodged.

"I think the National Registration Department, the Immigration Department and Umno may have conspired by asking someone else to register overseas Malaysians as voters," Charles said.

He also lashed out at EC deputy chairperson Wan Ahmad Wan Omar for dismissing the whole episode as no big deal by saying "Dinesh's only complaint was that the registration was done without his consent.

"But since he is now a registered voter, if he is truly unhappy, then don't vote! He does not have to create such a fuss about it," Wan Ahmad had said

NONE The Klang MP said this was an irresponsible statement by Wan Ahmad ( right ) as there were at least three criminal offences involved including forgery, fraud or false information and impersonation.

"This is a serious offence and should not be taken lightly.

"Since Dinesh's case was highlighted, I have been receiving calls from people in my constituency saying their names have been registered as voters when in fact they had not done so.

EC charged as irresponsible

"If this happens in my constituency and in Selangor, can you imagine the implications nationwide? That is why I say that the NRD, Immigration and possibly Umno and EC conspired in this.

"When I asked the EC about this, it did not deny or acknowledge it," he said.

Charles said Wan Ahmad, as the EC deputy chairperson, was truly irresponsible in making the statement as it was his task to ensure that elections are free and fair.

"This is clear that the EC does not want to clean up the electoral roll, that there exists fraud in the electoral process and that at present, there is no free and fair election," he said.

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