TELUK INTAN, May 29 — A DAP assemblyman complained today that Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Teluk Intan candidate Datuk Mah Siew Keong has been handing out rice to voters, in an alleged attempt to buy their votes ahead of the by-election here this Saturday.

Pasir Bedamar assemblyman Terence Naidu said he and Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran saw bags of rice being handed out to the predominantly Indian crowd at a BN function at Jalan Laksamana here yesterday afternoon, where he said Mah was present and shaking hands with the people.

“Barisan Nasional and Mah, himself, breached the Election Offences Act 1954 and its subsequent sections on bribery,” Terence told a press conference at the DAP operations centre here today.

“We could clearly hear the emcee urging the people to vote for Mah. The urging from the emcee stopped only when Rajiv took out his phone to start recording the event,” he added.

DAP’s Teluk Intan campaign director Tony Pua said at the news conference that the incident contradicted Mah’s early pledge to run a campaign without free gifts or lucky draws.

“It’s clearly a lie,” said Pua.

Rajiv said there were more than 100 people at yesterday’s BN function.

At another recent BN event at Taman Desa Bakti here, hampers containing basic food items like flour, sugar and milk powder were handed out to the mostly Indian crowd. Mah will take on DAP’s Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud in a straight fight for the Teluk Intan federal seat in Perak on Saturday.