The People's Volunteer Corps (Rela) members are not in the same category as the Royal Malaysian Police Volunteers (PVR) members and are not eligible to apply for postal voting, said Election Commission (EC) Chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah.

He said the EC refuted the allegations of certain quarters that almost four million postal voters were going to vote in the coming 14th general election with most Rela members who were misunderstood as being in the PVR member category.

"In this regard, the EC wants to emphasise that the allegations are untrue and intended to confuse the people," he said in a statement today.

He said Article 3 (1) to (4) of the Election Regulations (Postal Voting) 2003 stipulates that citizens who had registered as voters could vote by post provided they must belong to one of the categories set by the EC.

"The postal voting facilities granted to these voter categories are not automatically given to all members but are only subject to members who are required to perform their duties on polling day.

"They must apply as postal voters with an endorsement by their respective department heads when the application period is opened by the EC through official notification. Those who do not apply are not eligible to vote as postal voters," he said.

Mohd Hashim said the actual number of members in the categories involved in the postal voting would only be known exactly after the applications were opened and received.

"The EC will review all the postal voting applications to ensure that only eligible persons as stipulated are given the postal voting facility," he said.

On the recommendation that the EC practised the early counting of the ballot on the same day after the polls as was done by other countries, he said the EC was of the opinion that it was impractical as it would affect the voting pattern on polling day.

"If some of the results are known earlier it is feared that it will affect the sentiments of some parties and will affect the voting pattern,” he added.

- Bernama