THE Election Commission (EC) has set December 7 for polling for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat following the death of Pakatan Harapan candidate M. Karupaiya four days before the general election. 

The EC in a statement said nominations for Padang Serai will be on November 24 while early voting is set for December 3. 

“There will be 13 days for campaigning, while applications for postal voting can be made online from November 18 to 22,” said EC chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh. 

This means polling for the seat will not take place tomorrow. 

PKR’s Karupaiya, also the incumbent for the seat, died on Wednesday after being in hospital for three days. 

He was in a six-cornered fight for the Padang Serai seat. 

He would have faced C. Sivarraajh (Barisan Nasional), Azman Nasrudin (Perikatan Nasional), Hamzah Abd Rahman (Pejuang), Mohd Bakhri Hashim (Warisan), and Sreanandha Rao (Independent). 

The 69-year-old won the Padang Serai seat in the last general election after defeating MCA’s Leong Yong Kong and PAS’ Sobri Osman. 

The EC said that all candidates must return on the new nomination date to draw their candidate number. 

The commission added that the budget to conduct this election was RM1.6 million. 

There are 133,867 registered voters in Padang Serai, including 76 police personnel and 15 postal voters. – November 18, 2022.