From the ongoing review by the Election Commission (EC) and National Registration Department (NRD) until March 28, the number of dubious names in the electoral roll has decreased to 40,803 compared to 42,051 previously.

The reduction is due to voters coming to the NRD to update their identification card information besides heirs bringing evidence to the NRD on the death of family members or relatives.

According to EC chairpersonAbdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, so long as the status of the 40,803 voters could not ve verified by the NRD, they would continue to remain in the electoral roll to ensure their rights were protected under the Federal Constitution.

"EC laws do not allow any name in the electoral roll to be removed without approval by the NRD.

"The EC only removes their names from the electoral roll after getting confirmation from the NRD," he said in answering allegations that the EC failed to clean up the electoral roll in the book entitled "Fakta Sebenar Di Sebalik Dakwaan dan Fitnah Terhadap SPR (The facts behind allegations and slander against the EC".
    
The EC, he said was always taking steps to clean up the electoral roll by displaying the list of voters every three months to provide an opportunity to the public to update it.

Impossible for non-citizens to vote

The EC also distributed the name lists to all major political parties and political leaders in parliament and state assemblies, he said.

"It is aimed to get help in the search for validation and feedback with respect to the address and the current status of the voters concerned," he said.

Responding to allegations that EC had registered foreigners as voters, Abdul Aziz said only Malaysians aged 21 years and above were entitled to be voters.

"So it is impossible for those who are not citizens or foreign nationals to register as a voter because the application to become voters is processed by a computerised system with all legal checks in place," he said.

On many voters over the age of 100 in the EC electoral roll, he explained that removal could only be made on two reasons, namely the voter has died according to the NRD recordd and those disqualified as voters in accordance to proof from the authorities concerned.

- Bernama