Selangor exco Dr Xavier Jayakumar was officially announced the winner of the controversial Kota Raja PKR division elections earlier this evening after a protracted recount of the ballots that took more than a day and a half to conclude.

The meeting to vote for the division leaders and nominate the party’s national leaders held last Sunday was marred by a fracas involving rival factions vying for the division’s top posts and had to be postponed for a recount.

According to the results announced by Abdul Malek Hussin of the party’s elections committee, Jayakumar won the chair of the division by a majority of 768 votes over his closest contender, S Kottapan, who garnered 151.

For the post of deputy division chairperson, Suhaimi Shafei won with 854 as against Shaari Abdul Malek, who got 142 votes.

There were a total of 8,851 ballots cast, of which 8,481 (95.82%) were declared valid while 370 were found to be spoilt votes.

There were a total of 12 positions contested consisting of division and division Wanita and Youth wings seats.

Bernama, meanwhile, reported that the police have initiated their investigations into the scuffle that occurred at the Kota Raja PKR meeting held in the Shah Alam Municipal Council hall in Bukit Naga which resulted in several persons being injured.

Shah Alam police chief ACP Noor Azam Jamaluddin said six police reports had been were lodged on the scuffle which ensued during the Kota Raja division polls.

Kottapan had claimed that he was attacked by about 40 people. He is said to be undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Klang.

Noor Azam noted that Jayakumar also had lodged a report against Kottapan for allegedly hitting him.

The case will be investigated under Sections 324 and 148 of the Penal Code for causing injury with weapons and rioting, said Noor Azam.

Kota Raja was one of seven PKR divisions that had to be postponed following disputes between candidates and other problems.