SHAH ALAM: The Election Commission (EC) is to meet next week to determine the dates for the by-election for the Seri Setia state seat, EC deputy chairman Tan Sri Othman Mahmood said yesterday. He said the EC was officially notified yesterday by Selangor Legislative Assembly Speaker Ng Suee Lim of the vacant seat following the death of the assemblyman Prof Dr Shaharuddin Badaruddin on Thursday.
Shaharuddin, 55, who was the Selangor Islamic Affairs, Education and Human Capital Development Committee chairman, died of colon cancer at about 6.30 pm at the Putrajaya Hospital. Othman spoke to reporters after the handing over of ballot boxes to the election workers handling the Sungai Kandis state by-election, polling for which is today.
The Sungai Kandis by-election is the first after the 14th general election in May. It is being held following the death of the assemblyman, Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei, 50, of PKR, of lymphoma cancer on July 2. The second by-election, for the Balakong state seat, also in Selangor, has been necessitated by the death of the assemblyman, Ng Tien Chee, 40, of DAP, in an accident on the Grand Saga Expressway as he drove from Kuala Lumpur to Kajang on July 20.
Nomination for the Balakong by-election is on August 18 and polling on September 8. Asked whether the Seri Setia by-election could be held simultaneously with the Balakong byelection, Othman said it would depend on the outcome of the EC meeting as many aspects and needs had to be taken into account, including the location, workers and logistics.
In the Sungai Kandis byelection, the contest is among Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni of Pakatan Harapan-PKR, Datuk Lokman Noor Adam of BN-UMNO and independent K. Murthy. – Bernama
