Voting fraud victim goes to court
SHAH ALAM: A father, whose son has been registered as a voter without his knowledge, filed for judicial review at the Shah Alam High Court yesterday in a bid to remove his son’s name from the electoral roll.
 | | (Front, from left) Santiago, Sivakumar, lawyers Tan Tai Hwa and Freda Paul (behind) at the court. |
K Sivakumar, 63, from Klang, feared that unscrupulous individuals will vote on his son S Dinesh’s behalf in the 13th General Election. “He’s never registered. I have never helped him register, so who did?” the retired engineer told reporters. He said Dinesh has been living in England for the past 15 years and comes back to visit occasionally but has never voted. His legal counsel John Fam had filed for judicial review under Regulation 25(2)(g) of the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulations 2002, which empowers the EC chief registrar to strike out names he deems “not entitled” to be in the electoral roll. Dinesh has been registered as a voter without his knowledge in the Kota Alam Shah state seat and Klang parliamentary constituency. Sivakumar only found out when he received a postcard in January from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, attached with Dinesh’s voter details. With the help of Klang MP Charles Santiago, they met with the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday and were told that Dinesh was registered by an Umno assistant registrar on March 7, 2012. However, Selangor EC director Dzulkifli Abdul Rahman and deputy director Abang Irzaruddin Abang Alias washed their hands of the matter. They said they were prohibited from removing Dinesh’s name from the gazetted electoral roll under Section 9A of the Election Act. Sivakumar also lodged a police report on Jan 31 as he is afraid that his son’s identity would be used for other fraudulent activities. “The police called me yesterday and asked me to drop the case. They said it’s a small matter,” he claimed. To register as a voter, the applicant needs to sign the official registration form and provide a photocopy of the MyKad. Santiago slammed the police for their inaction as someone had clearly forged Dinesh’s signature and somehow got hold of a photocopy of his MyKad. “There’s a criminal element involved here,” he pointed out. Cheating by personation is a punishable crime under Section 416 of the Penal Code while forging document with a false signature is an offence under Section 464 of the Penal Code. Meanwhile, Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar lost her judicial bid to remove three dead voters, 133 non-residents, and 4,637 voters whose addresses are unspecified or incomplete in the electoral roll. The Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday dismissed her leave application for judicial review at no cost. April 24 decision on application to strike name off electoral roll
 AWAITING COURT DECISION: Santiago (left) and Sivakumar outside the Shah Alam High Court yesterday — Pic: SHAHRIR OMAR
THE decision on the application filed by United Kingdombased Malaysian S. Dinesh to have his name struck off the electoral roll has been postponed to April 24.
At the hearing at the Shah Alam High Court yesterday, judge Vernon Ong said he would make his decision on that day after hearing arguments from both sides.
In his submission, Dinesh’s counsel, John Fam, said the inclusion of his client’s name in the electoral roll amounted to cheating and fraud as Dinesh had never registered himself or authorised anyone to register him as a voter and, therefore, the chief registrar of the Election Commission had the duty to strike out the name.
“I’m touching on the duty of the respondent, the chief registrar, who has refused to strike out the applicant’s name from the electoral roll even though the EC has acknowledged that the process of registering the applicant as a voter was tainted,” he said.
The case was filed by Dinesh’s father, K. Sivakumar, who alleged that in a reply to his email enquiry on how his son could be registered as a voter, the EC had said the registration was done by Umno’s assistant registrar, Hishammuddin Kasim.
This case was filed under the Regulation 25 (2)(g) of the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulation 2002 that empowers the EC chief registrar to strike out names he deems not entitled to be in the electoral roll.
Sivakumar filed a judicial review on April 4 to ensure that the name of his son, who has been residing in the United Kingdom for 15 years and had never been registered as a voter, is struck out of the electoral roll.
Sivakumar found out about the registration when he received a greeting card from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak with Dinesh’s voter details. Dinesh had been registered as a voter in the Kota Alam Shah state seat and Klang parliamentary constituency.
After Dinesh confirmed that he never registered as a voter and never authorised anyone to do so, Sivakumar sought the help of incumbent Klang MP Charles Santiago to meet the EC after lodging a police report.
Suzana Atan, the federal counsel representing the respondent, said there was no objection when the electoral roll was posted for enquiry before being gazetted.
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发表于 20-4-2013 05:20 PM
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