PUTRAJAYA, July 20 (Bernama) — The names of 22,433 old identity card (IC) holders were not removed from the electoral roll but merely set aside for revision, said Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman.

He said the move was necessary as the identities of the card holders were questionable as their names were not found in the database of the National Registration Department (NRD).

EC is exhibiting the names at its offices nationwide for one week starting Wednesday for revision by the card holders.
“If they are serious about becoming voters, they must verify and state that they are citizens and qualified to be in the electoral roll,” he told reporters here today.
He was clarifying a statement by EC secretary Datuk Kamaruzaman Mohamed Noor that the names of old IC card holders would be removed from the electoral roll for the next general election.
Rashid said the group not only failed to change to MyKad but were holding on to the blue plastic ICs issued when 12 years-old in the 60s.
Since their IC numbers were not in the NRD record, they should not be registered as voters as their status could not be verified.
Some 380,000 old IC card holders had been verified as voters as the eight digit IC numbers were in the NRD record.
On the general election, Rashid said EC would only be ready end Sept as it has to train about 200,000 staff nationwide.
— BERNAMA