Lim said he would discuss with state secretary Farizan Darus whether a caretaker state government had the power to declare a public holiday.
He also urged the prime minister to declare a national public holiday on polling day, to enable more people to go home and vote.
“Under the Elections Act 1958, employers are bound to give their employees time off to vote, but if the work place is far from their hometowns, they might not be able to make it back in time.
“It is better to declare a public holiday like what former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad did in 1999,” he said at a press conference today.
Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, said this had to be done to quash the notion that Barisan Nasional (BN) did not want a high voter turnout as that would give an advantage to Pakatan Harapan (PH).
“We see the weekday polling as a dirty tactic to reduce voter turnout so as to increase BN’s chances of winning.
“The people can see through the ploy, and they will feel disgruntled, and this will make them even more determined to come back and vote,” he said.
On Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed’s remarks that May 9 need not be declared a public holiday, Lim said Nur Jazlan was not the prime minister.
The Election Commission (EC) yesterday set May 9, a Wednesday, as polling day for the 14th general election with early voting on May 5.
Nomination day is fixed on Saturday, April 28, and the campaign period is from April 28 to May 8.
Government schools in the country will be given a day off on May 9, to enable them to be used as polling centres.
EC chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah said there were 14,940,624 registered voters. Of the total, 13,255 are early voters and 3,653 are overseas voters.