“There have been occasions when I met young voters, especially students, and they didn’t know their names were already on the electoral roll,” he said at a Keluarga Malaysia event here today.

Ismail said Barisan Nasional supporters should approach such youths and explain the importance of voting.

“The BN party machinery needs to reach out to the young voters in their respective areas and ensure they come out to vote during polling day.

“Otherwise, they might not come out to vote. We need to inform them.”

He said it was not the duty of the Election Commission (EC).

‘EC must probe drastic increase in number of voters’

Ismail said the EC should investigate claims of a drastic increase in the number of voters in Sabah.

He said the increase did not seem to involve young voters. “If they are young voters, we would understand. So, in this case, the EC should investigate. We leave it to the EC to take the necessary action,” he said.

Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor had said last week that the state government would get further information about the total number of registered voters in the state.

He said they had conveyed the concerns of several parties to the EC and that the state government required further information on the matter.

The total number of voters in Sabah was reported to have increased by 53.9% from 1.1 million voters in 2018 to around 1.7 million this year.