EC redelineation: BN to hold special meeting Thursday - Tengku Adnan

Barisan Nasional (BN) will hold a special meeting to discuss the redelineation exercise recommended by the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday, says BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

He said the meeting would be attended by BN component secretaries-general from all over the country to state their grievances on the recommendation before submitting their decisions to EC before Oct 14.

"UMNO has also requested state UMNO liaision committees which have problems (on redelineation) to gather all suggestions or protests and the outcome of a study will be forwarded to EC.

"If we could, we would ask EC to review the redelineation as several UMNO divisions are also unhappy, similarly the opposition could also register their dissatisfactions with EC," he said.

He was speaking to reporters after opening the Pasir Salak UMNO division delegates' meeting here today which was also attended by its division chief Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman.

Tengku Adnan, who is also Federal Territories Minister, said the redelineation of electoral boundaries was a normal exercise held every eight to 12 years, depending on the increase of voters in the country.

In this regard, Tengku Adnan said UMNO was not related to any redelineation proposals as alleged by the opposition because EC was neutral and did not favour any party.

"We (UMNO) are going to gather all protests according to the set guidelines and regulations," he said.

EC secretary, Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh had earlier announced the redelineation exercise was conducted according to Clause (2) Article 113 of the Federal Constitution and Amendments to Clause (2) Article 14 of the Sabah State Constitution as gazetted on Aug 18.

According to Abdul Ghani, EC would be displaying the Redelineation of Electoral Boundaries for the peninsula and Sabah for one month starting from Sept 15 to Oct 14.