Amirudin, who is also the Sungai Tua assemblyman, stressed that the celebration was not part of an election campaign but a programme by the state government.

“We arranged this about a month ago, specifically at the beginning of last Ramadan, to set the date for the Aidilfitri celebration. This is not a campaign or a political party programme but a state government programme. Throughout the event, there was no campaigning at all.

“However, if people come wearing party-related outfits, I cannot stop them or ask them to change,” Sinar Harian quoted him as saying last night.

He was responding to claims by Bersih that organising such events could contravene provisions in the Election Offences Act.

The electoral watchdog said organising a “kenduri” during an election period is an offence under Section 8 of the Act, while giving monetary gifts during an election period is an offence under Section 10.

Bersih also warned against the use of state government resources for the open house and during the election period.

The open house, organised by the state government, was also attended by state executive councillors and other state leaders. It had expected to draw some 25,000 visitors.

Asked the reason for cancelling the distribution of aid at the event that was supposed to take place, Amirudin said the decision was made based on advice from various parties.

“After receiving advice (we made the decision to cancel) because we didn’t want the distribution of the aid to be misconstrued,” he said.

The Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election on May 11 will see a four-cornered fight among Pakatan Harapan’s Pang Sock Tao, Khairul Azhari Saut from Perikatan Nasional, Hafizah Zainuddin of Parti Rakyat Malaysia, and independent candidate Nyau Ke Xin.