| Stone-Throwing Incident Mars Final Moments Of Polling |
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KUALA SELANGOR, April 28 (Bernama) -- Hurling stones on two buses carrying Wanita Umno vote-canvassers marred the otherwise smooth polling in the keenly-fought Ijok by-election today.
However, nobody was injured in the 4pm incident when the buses were ferrying about 80 Perlis Wanita Umno canvassers to Ijok from Batang Berjuntai.
Upon arriving at the Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Badong polling station, opposition supporters clad in Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) shirts and carrying the party's flags, blocked the road and ordered the passengers to get down, alleging the buses were carrying phantom voters.
When the passengers ignored the order, the angry mob started hurling stones at the bus in front, causing the windscreen to crack.
Policemen and Federal Reserve Unit personnel promptly swung into action to control the situation and calm down the tense moment.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) are locking horns in a straight fight in the battle for the ethnically-mixed semi-urban seat which fell vacant on April 4 upon the death of BN assemblyman Datuk K. Sivalingam.
The choice for Ijokians is between two political unknowns -- BN's K. Parthiban, 38, a former teacher, and PKR's Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, 61, a former corporate figure. Both are debutants.
Sivalingam retained the Malay-majority seat with a 1,649-vote majority in the last general election.
Results are expected by 8pm in the event of no recount.
-- BERNAMA
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