“This is where it all started for me. This is where I grew up and I want to serve the people here,” the Bukit Selarong native, clad in baju Melayu complete with headgear, told reporters outside the polling centre.

Hamzah, 59, said the postponement of the election, coupled with Pejuang’s devastating loss in the 15th general election (GE15), motivated him to fight harder to win the Padang Serai parliamentary seat.

“I would like to keep it this way, Dr Mahathir Mohamad has contributed a lot to this country for 22 years,” he said in reference to the Pejuang chairman.

“It is not right that he was defeated to the point of losing his deposit. I hope the voters show some mercy to him.”

Hamzah said he was banking on his “local boy” status to win support from the voters. He pointed out that the candidates from Pakatan Harapan, Sofee Razak, and Perikatan Nasional, Azman Nasrudin, were not from Padang Serai.

Besides the three of them, independent candidate Ananda AK is also in the fray in today’s polls.

Two other candidates from Barisan Nasional and Warisan are also on the ballot but have withdrawn from the race and urged their supporters to back the candidate from PH.

Polling for the Padang Serai seat was postponed following the death of PH’s candidate, M Karupaiya, on Nov 16, three days before GE15.

Polling ends at 6pm.