Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LIPIS (Jan 14): Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Cameron Highlands by-election M. Manogaran has told the opposition candidate to not waste any time by lodging a police report amid allegation of money politics and corrupt electoral practices, reiterating that the DAP did not commit any offences by reimbursing monies to its 60 volunteers for meal and transportation allowances.

Telling the opposition coalition to stay focused on the election campaign, Manogaran said the reimbursement process was "not a big deal" and such practices do not contravene election laws.

"The issues that we are facing now is not a big deal," Manogaran, a DAP member and former Teluk Intan MP, told reporters on his third day of campaign trail at Felda Sungai Koyan 3 here today.

"What constitutes an election offence is the practice of giving out monies to the electorates in exchange for votes, which is a wrong and corrupt practice," he added.

Under the Election Offences Act, the electoral expenses for a candidate contesting in an election is capped at RM200,000 for a parliamentary seat and RM100,000 for a state assembly seat.

"We will include all of the expenses in one big ledger before submitting to the Election Commission," he added.

Last Saturday, pictures of a PH woman has surfaced that she had allegedly handed out cash to 60 DAP volunteers, prompting speculation that the political party has committed corrupt practices and potentially contravened election laws.

However, Jelai assistant operations chief Arvind Bharet has denied any involvement of corrupt elements in dishing out the reimbursement, noting that the cash handouts were given to volunteers from the rural and inner areas, who had helped out on the nomination day.

To this, Manogaran added: "We do not formally employ the volunteers and if we do engage them, we do not give them any salaries but only allowances."

The upcoming Cameron Highlands by-election will be held on Saturday (Jan 26), as the election court has declared the parliamentary seat vacant on elements of bribery and corruption.

The upcoming by-election will see a four-corner fight among the DAP, Barisan Nasional and two independent candidates.

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