The opposition camp for the Petaling Jaya Selatan parliamentary seat is doubtful over the effectiveness of Election Commission (EC) enforcement teams in enforcing campaigning rules.

Armed with photos of alleged violations by the Barisan Nasional candidate in the PJ constituency, the opposition camp has released a preliminary list of 'illegal' bilik gerakan (operation centres) erected at public areas.

Several of these structures are in the PJ Selatan parliamentary constituency where Keadilan's R Sivarasa is challenging the BN incumbent, Donald Lim, who won by a majority of 3,845 votes against PRM's Dr Syed Husin Ali in the last general election.

Yesterday evening, Sivarasa's election agent, Ser Choon Ing, filed a formal complaint with the EC's enforcement team.

The playground at Jalan 5/46, the open area along Jalan Selangor opposite a Hindu temple, the Chen Mou school field at Jalan 2/23 and the open area beside the Vivekananda Tamil primary school along Jalan Templer were identified in his complaint.

"We have digital photographs of the blue-white striped tents and 20-foot cargo containers complete with portable toilets on public property. They were fully-covered with BN carnival flags, posters and buntings," he said when met in PJ today.

Permit needed

"In fact, a bigger Bilik Gerakan BN had been set up on a badminton court in Section 11 but was removed after residents complained to the EC enforcement team on Monday," he added.

He said they are awaiting for a response on his complaint from the PJ Selatan EC enforcement team led by Faridah Bahala Nordin.

The enforcement team comprises officials from the EC, the local council and the police, as well as the respective candidates' election agents.

Contacted today, the PJ Selatan constituency's assistant returning officer, Sa'diyah Kasiman, confirmed that a local council permit is needed to set up any temporary structure in a public area.

"(But) if it is near a school, then the structure must be more than 50 metres away from the wall. The permit requirement is usually waived for such structures built near schools during elections," she said.

She said the enforcement would first have to visit the listed locations in order to determine if there is any breach of campaign regulations.

Limit exceeded

The EC has issued a guideline which political parties are supposed to strictly adhere to when setting-up their operations centres and putting-up their flags, banners and posters.

Among others, the guideline states that posters must not be strung across roads and highways and that they should not be nailed to trees or pasted on lamp posts or road signs.

Party posters are also not allowed on pedestrian bridges and public buildings or any other structure to avoid from them being defaced.

Ser said that based on the number of these operation centres and related requirements, he was sure the BN would have exceeded its RM200,000 statutory limit for campaigning in a parliamentary constituency.

At the parliamentary-level, campaigning expenses by each party is capped at a maximum of RM200,000 while state seats have a limit of RM100,000. Previously, the limit was RM30,000 and RM50,000 for state and parliament seats respectively.

Sivarasa's media spokesperson, Zaitun Kassim, was more critical of the effectiveness of the EC enforcement teams. She stressed it was the EC's job to monitor such developments.

"These BN's illegal structures are going unnoticed. It is clearly the EC's job to monitor the situation and act against violators of campaign rules," she said.

"The BN's non-compliance with election rules and regulations only shows their contempt towards the country's laws," she said.