By Sofia Nasir
SUNGAI BULOH, July 3 — Since the implementation of Undi18 and automatic voter registration came into effect in 2021, the number of registered electors in the Paya Jaras state constituency has increased by 81 per cent or about 73,000.
Its incumbent state representative Mohd Khairuddin Othman said that this is a significant increase from the 40,269 registered voters in the previous 14th general election (GE14), according to the data from the Election Commission (EC).
The automatic voter registration and the lowering of the voting age to 18 from 21 was implemented on December 15, 2021.
“There has been an increase in voters in Paya Jaras. Nearly 40 per cent of the voters in the state constituency are individuals aged 18 to 40.
“With the implementation of this automatic voter registration system, the jump is very significant,” he said during the Aidiladha korban (sacrifice) programme in Saujana Utama, here yesterday.
In response to the upcoming state polls, Khairuddin, who is also the state executive councillor for youth and sports development, stated that he leaves it to the party leadership as to whether he will be defending his seat.
He said all party machinery has been mobilised, including with Barisan Nasional (BN), to ensure Pakatan Harapan (Harapan) remains in Paya Jaras.
“We had a meeting with BN two weeks ago and we are confident in our cooperation to defend Selangor,” he added.
In 2018, Khairuddin defended the Paya Jaras seat for the second term in the general polls with a majority of 12,072 votes.
He secured 20,376 votes defeating BN candidate Datuk Zein Isma Ismail and Hanafi Zulkapli from PAS.
