EARLY voting for the Semenyih by-election began at 8am today, with two polling centres set to see 858 of 951 voters casting their ballots.

Of the 858, 761 will vote at the multipurpose hall at Battalion 4 General Operations Force (GOF) Semenyih Camp, and the remaining 97 at the Kajang district police headquarters.

The Election Commission said the other 93, comprising GOF personnel, are postal voters.

The polling centre at Battalion 4 GOF Semenyih Camp will close at 5pm, and the one at the police headquarters, at 2pm.

The by-election sees a four-cornered contest between Pakatan Harapan’s Muhammad Aiman Zainali, Zakaria Hanafi (Barisan Nasional), Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul (Parti Sosialis Malaysia) and Kuan Chee Heng (independent).

The seat fell vacant following the death of PH assemblyman Bakhtiar Mohd Nor, 57, on January 11.

Votes from today will be counted at a centre specified by the EC on March 2, which has been set as polling day.

Semenyih has 54,503 registered voters, comprising 53,520 ordinary, 951 early and 32 absentee voters. – Bernama, February 26, 2019.