Even though age has caught up with her in the form of a wheelchair, Che Embun Hashim, 84, is determined to carry out her duty as a Malaysian and Bukit Gelugor resident.

Che Embun is one of the many voters of the constituency who came out to cast her vote in the Bukit Gelugor by-election this morning.

"I feel anxious if I don’t vote...I will keep thinking about it," she told Astro AWANI when met at the SMK Datuk Hj Mohd Noor Ahmad.

Che Embun has been voting since Merdeka and has never failed to carry out her national obligation.

"I am used to voting...its a responsibility, I must vote," said the Taman Tun Sardon resident who was accompanied by her daughter, Mashitah Mohd Yusof.

Meanwhile, a young voter, Rozana Ishak, said every citizen must carry out their responsibility and vote.

"Choosing our leader is a matter of public interest, we must vote," she said, adding that her choice was always based on the candidate's merit.

Another young voter, Cheah Bee Kian said he preferred to go out and vote early as the weather was more forgiving and there were less people.

"Its cooler in the morning...there isn't many people either," he told Astro AWANI.

The voting process for the by-election started at 8am today at 17 polling stations.

The Bukit Gelugor by-election involves a four-cornered race between DAP's Ramkarpal Singh Deo, Party Cinta Malaysia (PCM)'s Datuk Huan Cheng Guan, and two independent candidates Mohamed Nabi Bux Mohd Abd Sathar and Abu Backer Sidek Mohamad Zan.

All four candidates had previously said they were confident of winning the seat which was made vacant after the death of its MP Karpal Singh last April 17.

All voting centres are expected to be closed at 5pm with election results to be announced as early as 9pm.