“Earlier, I filed a police report at the Sri Hartamas police station over the hacking of my Twitter account by an unidentified individual,” he said in a Twitter post last night.

He said he wanted to make it known that he never posted the controversial tweet, which had gone viral.

Yesterday, social media users hit out at Lau over his purported posting, which has since been deleted.

The tweet said: “Is it OK if I contest for the Pulai by-election?”

Salahuddin, who was the domestic trade and cost of living minister, died at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar on Sunday night.

The 61-year-old Pulai MP and Simpang Jeram assemblyman had undergone surgery for a brain haemorrhage.

Claiming that his Twitter account was hacked, Lau said the administrator of the account was “surprised” to find the tweet published at 12.37pm.

This morning, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Johari Abdul said the Election Commission had been officially notified of the vacancy for the Pulai parliamentary seat following Salahuddin’s death.

He said the EC would need to hold a by-election to fill the vacancy within 60 days as per Article 54(1) of the Federal Constitution.