PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang slammed the Election Commission (EC) for making an about-turn on its ruling for candidates to pay stamp duty just hours ahead of nomination day today.

Abdul Hadi alleged that EC made the surprise decision just to save Umno candidates.

On Feb 21, Election Commission Secretary Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor announced that candidates submitting their nomination papers would be required to pay stamp duty in the form of revenue stamps.

Explaining the requirement, Kamaruzaman had said: "It is in the law. We want to fully follow the procedure. It will be in place until the law is revoked."

Various parties had protested the move coming just two days before nomination, saying there was insufficient time for candidates to get the required stamps.

Abdul Hadi, who is also contesting for the Marang parliamentary seat, accused EC officials of revoking the stamp duty ruling without informing PAS candidates.

"EC is doing this to help Umno especially Umno Terengganu which is having trouble with their candidates," he said.

"We (PAS) only found out about this around 5am (today)," he told reporters during a press conference at his office at the Marang Land Office today. Also present was PAS Terengganu commissioner Mustafa Ali and several other leaders.

Calls to EC secretary Kamaruzaman today went unanswered.