Ramkarpal Singh wins Bukit Gelugor seat

DAP has succeeded in retaining the P51 Bukit Gelugor seat today when its candidate, Ramkarpal Singh Deo, beat three other candidates with a convincing majority of 37,659 votes.

Ramkarpal, son to the late Karpal Singh, the incumbent of the Parliamentary seat, garnered a total vote count of 41,242.

Ramkarpal defeated Parti Cinta Malaysia vice-president Datuk Huan Cheng Guan (3,583 vote) and two other independent candidates Mohamed Nabi Bux Mohd Abd Sathar (799 vote) and Abu Backer Sidek Mohamad Zan (255 vote).

The Bukit Gelugor by-election returning officer Kapten (B) Anuar Yahya, announced the result at the official vote tallying centre at Dewan Sri Pinang on Sunday at 9.05pm.

A total of 17 voting centres were opened for the voting process which included 17 schools in the area with a total of 144 ballot boxes including postal votes.

The P51 Bukit Gelugor by-election was held following the death of its incumbent Karpal Singh who was also DAP National Chairman, in an accident on April 17.

According to the Election Commission (EC) only 56.4 percent of voters or 46,099 of the total 81,897 voters had casted their ballots for the by-election.

During the 13th General Election (GE) last year, the late Karpal Singh beat MCA candidate Teh Beng Yeam of Barisan Nasional (BN) with a majority of 42,706 votes.