A contender for the deputy presidency in the recently concluded MIC polls has called it the "dirtiest" he has ever seen in his 25 years in the party.

MP Ramasamy (above) thus called the party leadership to hold a re-election to fix all the wrongdoings which allegedly marred the outcome of the party polls which took place on Oct 20.

"Since I announced that I was going for the deputy presidency after incumbent SK Devamany said he was not defending it, I received lots of pressure from certain quarters in the party.

“They did not give me the chance to campaign. I was stopped in many ways," Ramasamy, who is a businessperson, told Malaysiakini.

He further claimed that the election was not transparent and its conduct went against the party constitution.

Ramasamy, however, refused to divulge who had exerted pressure on him.

According to him, he sent seven protest notes to the party leadership and the election committee on the day of the election, to try and put a stop to the electoral process.

"I sent the letters between 8.45pm and 11pm to cancel the election after finding various issues in the process. Among the issues were that my agents were barred from entering the polling station.

"I also found that a lot of party members who held divisional positions were at their polling stations and forcing voters to vote for certain candidates. According to the party constitution, members who hold positions in divisions cannot be at their respective stations.

"Even worse, a lot of branch chiefs voted on behalf of party members who were not even present on polling day. This is a serious offence as they had put down signatures on behalf of those absent," he said, adding that he has evidence on all these alleged wrongdoings.

'Seven days'

Some 25,536 MIC members voted for the MIC leadership line-up for the 2018-2021 term last Saturday.

Tapah MP M Saravanan (photo) defeated Ramasamy for the deputy presidency.

Ramasamy, who is also the former Perak MIC chairperson, garnered just 5,270 votes, to Saravanan's 9,391 votes.

The defeated contender further questioned the 14,911 voters' figure cited by the leadership.

"I challenge the party's election committee to divulge the details of all 14,911 voters who cast their votes on that day. If there is nothing wrong, why not reveal their details and signatures?

"I have proof that 4,000 voters who cast their votes on polling day were 'phantom voters' or their votes were cast by a third party without the voters' knowledge."

Ramasamy confirmed that he had yesterday sent a memorandum on the matter to the party leadership as well as the central working committee and the election committee.

"I will give them seven days to reply to my memorandum. If I fail to get a reply, I will take the necessary legal action," he said.

Meanwhile, MIC president SA Vignesawaran confirmed that he has instructed the party's disciplinary committee to look into the allegations.

"All allegations and complaints will be investigated in a transparent manner," he said.