POLLING for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat has been postponed following the death of one of its candidates, M. Karupaiya of Pakatan Harapan (PH) last Wednesday, but some of the voters there were not aware of it and went to their designated polling centres today to vote.

A survey by Bernama at the Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Sri Limau polling centre in Lunas found a few voters gathered there.

One of them was Saad-Idi Ismail, 43, a person with hearing impairment, who was there with his wife, also a person with disability, and their three children.

The family arrived at the school at about 3pm from Bukit Mertajam, in Penang, about 14 kilometres away.

When informed that the polling day for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat has been postponed following Karupaiya’s death, he looked shocked and said he was not aware of it.

“Is it true? My wife and I drove all the way. Then when should we come back again (to vote),” he asked the Bernama reporter by writing on a piece of paper. 

Another voter, Low Teck Chai, 28, said he knew about Karupaiya’s death, but was not aware that the polling day had been postponed.

“I read the news of his death. I should have checked on the Election Commission’s (EC) website,” he said.

A security guard at the school, Muhammad Zuhairi Asri said that as of 3pm, about 40 voters arrived at the school to vote, not realising that the polling day for the parliamentary seat had been postponed.

“Pity them. There was also a family from Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

Yesterday, the EC had set December 7 as the polling day for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat.

Karupaiya, 69, the incumbent Padang Serai Member of Parliament, was admitted to Kulim Hospital last Monday after collapsing while campaigning and died at 2.27pm on Wednesday. – Bernama, November 19, 2022.