KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 ― A former Election Commission chairman's claim that electoral boundaries were redrawn to benefit the ruling Umno meant the latest exercise must be viewed with suspicion, said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.

Lim was citing Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman's 2013 revelation that three redelineation exercises during his term had ensured the continued political dominance of the Malays, which the Gelang Patah MP interpreted as keeping Umno in power.

He said this required current EC chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah to dispel fears that the latest exercise involving 12 parliamentary seats and 34 state constituencies was a continuation of the same "secret agenda”.

"How else can the Election Commission explain for proposing an even greater disparity in the number of electors among the constituencies?” Lim said in a statement today.

In the proposed redelineation, the EC will rename some seats in a move that affected lawmakers said would confuse voters.

For instance, Seputeh now held by DAP's Theresa Kok will be renamed Sri Petaling, while Kelana Jaya currently under PKR's Wong Chen will be changed to Subang.

The move will also see some seats experiencing a significant influx of voters. Petaling Jaya Utara that is held by DAP's Tony Pua will be dubbed Damansara and grow in size from 85,401 to 150,439 or an increase of 76 per cent.

Damansara would become the country's largest constituency by voter size, dwarfing Putrajaya that is held by Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor with its 17,627 voters or around 11 per cent as large.

Lim cited the same comparison to show that one vote in Putrajaya would be worth 10 in Damansara.

"There has been no serious attempt to reduce the voter disparity to give meaning to the principle of 'one man, one vote, one value' principle,” he added.

Malapportionment of voters is a long-standing complaint regarding the Malaysian electoral system, due to its perceived dilution of the value of votes in large constituencies versus smaller ones.

The Federal Constitution in its original form contained a safeguard against this, limiting the difference between the largest and smallest constituencies to no more than 15 per cent, but this was removed by two subsequent amendments.