Campaigning in full swing as PAP, SDP cross swords

Singapore

THE two contenders for the vacant Bukit Batok seat - Murali Pillai of the People's Action Party (PAP) and Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) - wasted no time getting their respective by-election campaigns off the ground on Wednesday.

The Elections Department had given both men the green light to contest the single-member constituency, after they successfully navigated their way through the Nomination Day proceedings without fuss.

About 30 minutes after nominations closed at noon, the Returning Officer, Energy Market Authority chief executive Ng Wai Choong, officially declared that a poll of Bukit Batok's 25,727 eligible voters would be taken on May 7.

Mr Murali, the head of the commercial-litigation department at law firm Rajah & Tann, said he would do more than "just talk in Parliament or on YouTube" if he came up trumps o…