JOHOR BAHRU: Voters in the Johor state election are taking advantage of the fine morning weather to go to the polls early today.

They looked enthusiastic and arrived as early as 7 am to queue at their respective polling centre, which only opened at 8 am.

Two former Johor menteri besars Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin and Datuk Dr Sahruddin Jamal were among the early birds.

Mohamed Khaled, who is UMNO vice-president, is a voter for the Permas seat and cast his vote at the polling centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Taman Rinting 1, Pasir Gudang here, while Dr Sahruddin, who is Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate for Bukit Kepong, voted at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Lenga, Pagoh, in Muar.

Mohamed Khaled had previously contested in Permas and won the seat in the 13th General Election (GE13), but lost in GE14.

Other early birds who had performed their responsibility as a voter was Tosrin Jarvanthi, 71, who is the oldest candidate in the Johor state election. He is contesting on PN's ticket for the Bukit Permai seat and cast his vote at the polling centre at SK Sinar Bahagia,Felda Taib Andak in Kulai.

Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for Layang-Layang seat Datuk Ab Mutalip Abd Rahim voted at the polling centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan LKTP Layang-Layang in Simpang Renggam.

A total of 1,021 polling stations were opened for the voting process today to allow 2,539,606 ordinary voters, out of 2,597,742 registered voters, to exercise their right.

There are 239 candidates from 15 political parties contesting for 56 state seats in this state election.

-- BERNAMA