KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — Barisan Nasional (BN) has dismissed claims that it bought votes to win yesterday’s Hulu Selangor by-election, ironically accusing its detractor Pakatan Rakyat (PR) of the same offence.

“As the BN secretary-general, let me state here that what was alleged by the defeated candidate Datuk Zaid Ibrahim is baseless.

“From my observation, they gave RM200 to each voter and they also gave the voters basic items such as rice,” Tengku Adnan told a press conference at the Umno headquarters here.

Zaid blamed vote buying for his defeat to BN’s P. Kamalanathan after the results were announced last night.

He even called the Hulu Selangor by-election, the 10th since Election 2008, as the country’s “most dirtiest and most corrupt” by-election.

“I am saddened and angered by what Zaid had said because he failed to see what his party did,” said Tengku Adnan.

“I am surprised they were willing to accuse us over the things that they did,” he added.

Tengku Adnan (picture) told reporters that the party was still studying its next course of action.

Earlier today, PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim accused the federal government of spending more than RM100 million to win the Hulu Selangor by-election.

The federal government is estimated to have approved projects worth about RM70 million in the district the size of Malacca.

The state government had also awarded land titles to Chinese new villagers and approved land applications for a Chinese school.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, however, defended the federal spending in Hulu Selangor, saying that it was not for vote buying, but to help the public.