PD POLLS | Independent candidate Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan has denied claims that he was using his old issue with Pakatan Harapan candidate Anwar Ibrahim as campaign material in his recent talk.

Saiful, 33, who is Anwar’s former aide, insisted that he firmly adhered to his pledge made on the nomination day on Sept 29 to stop digging up the old Anwar-Saiful story.

“I did not purposely talk about the old story but I was answering questions posed by the audience. I don’t want to use it as my campaign material by making personal attacks on Anwar.

“I firmly stick to my pledge… after the talk there was a question-and-answer session. The question on the sodomy issue was brought up by the audience and not during the campaign talk,” he told Bernama when met at the Port Dickson Social Welfare Department office near today.

In another development, Saiful was very happy with the support received during his campaigns in the past nine days.

“I have campaigned in all five state constituencies in the Port Dickson parliamentary seat … and possibly have shaken hands with almost 8,000 people,” he said, adding that he had been exploring nearly 70 percent of the constituency.

Commenting on his RM1 Fund launched on Oct 2 to cover his campaign cost, Saiful said that the collection has now reached RM3,000 from public donations.

The Port Dickson by-election will witness a seven-cornered fight between Saiful, Anwar, PAS candidate Mohd Nazari Mokhtar and four independent candidates including former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Mohd Isa Abdul Samad.

The by-election was held after its incumbent Danyal Balagopal Abdullah, 68, vacated the seat on Sept 12 to give way to Anwar to return to Dewan Rakyat.

The Election Commission has set polling day on Oct 13 while early voting is tomorrow (Oct 9).

- Bernama