The Election Commission (EC) has been urged to update its electoral list urgently so that it will be a clean slate, minus “discrepancies”, before voters troop out to the polling stations on election day.

Dr Kelvin Yii, the special assistant to Sarawak DAP chairperson Chong Chieng Jen, said this yesterday in a statement to Malaysiakini.

“I strongly urge the EC to show greater urgency to screen through and clean up the electoral list from all discrepancies to ensure a free and fair election, especially for the coming GE14."

Yii said the future of the nation must not be decided by dubious voters.

According to Yii, who has been named as the party’s candidate for the Stampin parliamentary seat, DAP has received a complaint from one "Mrs Ngeaw" regarding the existence of her name in the electoral roll - even though she claims to have never registered to vote and neither has anyone helped her to register as a voter in the past.

He said based on checks on the EC’s online platform showed that Ngeaw was registered as a voter in the Batang Sadong parliamentary seat and the Simunjan state seat.

“What is dubious about this, besides the point that she has never registered as a voter, is the fact that she is currently a resident in the Sg Maong area and has never lived in Simunjan or has ever set foot in Simunjan before.

“On further checking with the EC, Ngeaw’s name was in the system and she has been eligible to vote since 1992.

"What is even more puzzling is, upon further scrutiny, we found another voter, named Salbiah, registered in the electoral roll and having the same IC number and living in the same location as Ngeaw,” Yii said.

He also said that further checks with Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) showed there was no such person as “Salbiah” with the same IC as Ngeaw.

However, Salbiah’s name exists in the electoral system and she has been eligible to vote since 1996.

Police report made on March 29

“When Ngeaw alerted us of her ‘registration’ we assisted her to make a police report at the Simpang Tiga police station on March 29. We also made an official complaint to the EC,” said Yii.

He said there is a possibility that two separate persons could vote in the election under the same IC number.

"While we cannot prove whether these two persons had voted in any of the elections, as votes are secret and the EC does not keep such records, there is also no guarantee that these two names weren’t used to vote before as well."

Yii said this could also be a reflection of a bigger problem, where many others who may not be aware and have not registered to vote but have their names listed on the electoral roll.

“This gives an opportunity for the risk of abuse and for ‘phantom voters’ to cast votes on election day,” he added.

On another note, Yii said the party also received multiple complaints from members of the public who claimed that their voting locations had been shifted recently.

"One example is an entire family, who have been voting for many years in the Batu Lintang state seat (currently Bandar Kuching parliamentary seat), have now been shifted to vote in the Petra Jaya parliamentary seat for GE14.

“These are only a few examples of what we know about. There could be hundreds, if not thousands, of other such cases in the state,” Yii pointed out.