The nomination for the Ijok state seat will be held on Thursday April 19, a Thursday, with the by-election slated nine days later on April 28, which falls on a Saturday.

The Election Commission chairman Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman made the announcement today after a special meeting to discuss the dates.

The Ijok seat, which has a sizeable number of Indian voters, became vacant following the death of MIC assemblyperson K Sivalingam last Wednesday.

Early reports suggest that this might be a straight fight between Barisan Nasional and opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

Sivalingam, 59, who was also the Selangor MIC deputy liaison chief and state Unity and Plantation Workers Committee chairman, won the seat for a third term when he defeated Keadilan's Abdul Rahman Moharam with a 1,649-vote majority in the last general election in 2004.

Abdul Rashid said the electoral roll updated till April 4 this year would be used for the by-election.

The electoral roll for Ijok contained 12,272 voters, 39 of whom are postal voters. Malay voters make up 51.04 per cent, Indians 28.16 per cent and Chinese 20.59 per cent.

The EC also confirmed that the nomination and and vote-tallying would be held at the Batang Berjuntai community hall in Jalan Kuala Selangor. Kuala Selangor district council president Haris Kasim would be the returning officer.

There would be nine polling centres involving 28 streams and 169 workers would be trained to carry out the work while RM150,000 had been allocated for the by-election.