A police report has been lodged in Penang against a fake registration form for the stateless, which bears the logo of the National Registration Department (NRD).

The fake form, which went viral last week, states that those who wish to apply for the Malaysian national identity card (NRIC) must vote for BN in the coming general election, or else their NRIC will be cancelled.

PKR stateless committee coordinator A Kumaresan, who lodged the report at the Northeast District police headquarters on Jalan Patani today, urged Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to urgently rectify the situation.

"Even though it is learnt to be fake, Ahmad Zahid must thoroughly investigate and explain, since the form bears the logo of the NRD," said Kumaresan, who is a Penang Island City Councillor.

Even though the NRD has said the form is fake, he said, the police should investigate the political motive behind it to avoid any public confusion.

"We fear that the fake forms will be used by irresponsible quarters for their own benefits, now that the 14th general election (GE14) is around the corner," Kumaresan added.

The NRD has noted that the document, which has been circulating on social media, is fake and denied that it had issued such forms.

Statelessness, especially among the Indian community, has been a contentious issue, with the federal government trying to resolve the problem via an initiative called MyDaftar.

But the opposition has shot it down, saying that the federal government lacks the political will to address the issue.

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, who formed a Task Force on Statelessness in the state, has insisted that there are 300,000 stateless people in the country, but this has been rubbished by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Ahmad Zahid has hinted that GE14 may be called after the Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb 16 and 17, while the current parliamentary term expires on June 26, 2018 - which means GE14 must be called within 60 days from that date.