A group of Sekinchan constituents are attempting to strike off 1,200 suspicious new entries in the voter registry for the constituency.

Some of these voters are allegedly from other states, from as far as Sabah, or residing in other constituencies within Selangor.

There was also one instance in which dozens of new entries with non-Malay names have been registered using addresses located in all-Malay villages.

These were among the grounds cited by 20 Sekinchan residents during the hearing process at the Selangor Election Commission office today. They were accompanied by their state assemblyperson Ng Suee Lim.

"We brought along the village heads and constituency coordinators (of Sekinchan). We have checked (the voter lists) and it is evident that these people are not local," Ng said.

Each objector was allowed to register his or her objection against 20 names on the list. The hearings have been scheduled for today, May 2 and May 3.

Ng said this was not the first time that voters had been transferred to Sekinchan on dubious grounds.

Prior to the 2008 general election, Ng's constituents had objected to 334 voters whom they accused of having been "transplanted" from the adjacent Tanjong Karang constituency to Sekinchan.

Following the objection process, some 200 voters were removed from the voter list. When elections were called that year, Ng beat his BN opponent by a mere 190 votes.

Abuse of process

"This is the second time that this (transfer of voters) has happened. It is more serious as more voters are involved," Ng said.

He also accused a local Umno division leader of orchestrating objections to bona fide new voters in the Sekinchan constituency.

"(He) is trying to strike off local voters from the list. I am objecting to non-locals.

"The Umno leader has a lot of money and he is creating trouble for new voters by trying to prevent them from registering as voters," Ng said.

Voters who are the subject of objections must attend the hearings to show proof that they indeed reside in the area. A no-show will result in their automatic removal from the voters' list.

As such, Ng urged notified voters to attend their hearings, which will take place on May 4, or authorise a family member to take their place.

Malaysiakini is withholding the name of the Umno division leader pending response to our request for comments.