‘Remove me from electoral roll’


SHAH ALAM - A 32-year-old man who has been living in London for the past 15 years yesterday filed an application asking the High Court to compel the Election Commission (EC) to remove his name from the electoral roll, claiming he had never registered as a voter.
Dinesh Siva Kumar has named the EC and its Selangor chief registrar as respondents in his judicial review application which alleges the two respondents failed to conduct their duties in a transparent and trustworthy manner.
"The second respondent (the Selangor EC chief registrar) had admitted the mistake but refused to correct the error made by a former officer," said Dinesh in his application, where he was represented by his father, 63-year-old retiree K. Siva Kumar.
Former Klang MP Charles Santiago told a press conference last Friday that Dinesh was registered by appointed assistant registrar Hishamuddin Kassim, who was unable to recall the specifics of Dinesh's case when contacted.
Speaking at the High Court registry yesterday, Siva Kumar said they first became aware of his son's voter registration when he received a "Happy Malaysia Day" card last year addressed to Dinesh, which contained his voter details on the EC website.
Dinesh was listed as being a registered voter in the Klang parliamentary constituency.
"He is said to have registered as a voter on March 7, 2012, but he wasn't even in the country then," said Siva Kumar, who was accompanied by lawyer John Fam and Santiago.
Santiago also spoke of his meeting on Tuesday with Selangor EC director Dzulkifli Abdul Rahman and said he had been told by Dzulkifli that Section 9(A) of the Elections Act 1958 prohibited electoral roll amendments after it was gazetted.
Commenting on this, Fam told reporters Regulation 25(G) of the Election Act allows the chief registrar to remove and delete names.
"You (the EC) are empowered and you are not doing it. This is morally wrong," he added.
-thesundaily

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