GE15: Smooth polling process in Padang Serai, Tioman - Police

PUTRAJAYA: The voting process for the 15th General Election (GE15) for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat in Kedah and the Tioman state seat in Pahang is running smoothly so far, said Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) GE15 operations director Datuk Seri Hazani Ghazali.

"There is no problem, Malaysians are mature enough and disciplined. So far (as at 11 am), no report has been made (regarding any incident).

"The number of police personnel deployed is sufficient and there is also a backup team," he said when met by reporters after the presentation of contribution under the Flood Disaster Relief Mission from 7-Eleven Malaysia to the PDRM, here today.

He was asked to comment on the voting process for both the Padang Serai parliamentary and Tioman state seats which began at 8 am today and will end at 6 pm.

Polling for GE15 in both constituencies was postponed following the death of one of the candidates vying for the two seats, namely Pakatan Harapan's M Karupaiya for Padang Serai and Perikatan Nasional's (PN) Md Yunus Ramli for Tioman.

The contest for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat involves a six-cornered fight among Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Dr Mohamad Sofee Razak, Datuk C. Sivaraajh (Barisan Nasional), Datuk Azman Nasrudin (Perikatan Nasional) and Hamzah Abd Rahman (Pejuang).

The other two contenders are Mohd Bakhri Hashim, representing Warisan, and independent candidate Sreanandha Rao.

However, last Dec 2, BN agreed to give way to PH for the parliamentary seat.

Meanwhile, the Tioman state seat is seeing a five-cornered fight involving candidates from BN, PN, PH, Pejuang and an independent candidate.

PH, however has decided to give way to the BN candidate as a sign of the Unity Government's agreement at the state and national levels.

-- BERNAMA