Disappointed with the Election Commission's policy to not distribute draft electoral rolls to political parties, Perak PKR representatives today took a photostat machine to the EC office in Ipoh to make copies of the documents.

Simpang Pulai assemblyperson Tan Kar Hing said he and others carried the copier machine, a scanner, four boxes of A4 papers, as well as a generator to power the devices, to the EC office, where the draft electoral rolls were displayed.

According to Tan, he and his team had requested for the documents to be copied outside the headquarters compound, but this was rejected by EC officials on duty.

This prompted Tan and his team of about 40 people, including party workers, to lug the items, which they had brought in advance in anticipation of such events, into the EC office instead.

After they were barred from using the electricity at the office to operate the photostat machine, they had to rely on the generator, which according to Tan, struggled at first due to lack of power, but did the intended job later.

As of 3.30pm, Perak PKR managed to copy five out of 24 Perak parliamentary supplementary rolls, and the whole process is expected to be completed by tomorrow, Tan told Malaysiakini.

The EC's new ruling has made it difficult for political parties to search for phantom voters and irregular moving of voters, he added.

"Moreover, the electoral rolls are displayed for only 14 days. After deducting the weekends and holidays, only about eight or nine days are left.

"We have to analyse it in that short span of time and submit our objection," Tan said.

The supplementary electoral rolls for the first quarter of 2017 are being displayed from May 9 to 22.

Political parties and individuals can only utilise this period to lodge complaints.

Tan also questioned why the BN did not protest against the EC's ruling on the electoral rolls.

"Do they have a special method to get the document?" he asked.

Also present today were Perak PKR chief Mohd Nor Monutty, Kuala Kurau assemblyperson Abdul Yunus Jamhari, Hutan Melintang assemblyperson S Kesavan and Kuala Sepetang assemblyperson Chue Yee Ling, among others.

On April 29, the EC confirmed that it would no longer provide copies of draft electoral rolls during the display period, as it feels that the public displays were sufficient to inform voters of their status.

However, political parties, particularly from the federal opposition, have criticised the move.