The illegal act could have come from one of the Young And Dangerous movies.

In Hong Kong, photo-taking and video-recording are not allowed inside polling stations.

But actor-singer Jordan Chan, 52, posted a photo on Weibo that showed his ballot paper during the district council election on Sunday (Nov 24).

According to Ming Pao, the pro-Beijing artist hashtagged the captions "Be an upright Hong Kong citizen" and "Keep it up Hong Kong".

Chan removed the photo 30 minutes later - perhaps after he realised that he had flouted the rules - and posted another photo with the caption: "I have done my duty as a Hong Kong citizen."

But netizens are not in a forgiving mood over his infringement of the rules, with many calling for action to be taken against him.

Under the rules, Chan can be fined and jailed six months.

Hong Kong has been roiled by pro-democracy protests in recent months.

In August, a protester reportedly threw China's national flag into the sea.

Chan was among many celebrities who then shared photos of the flag on their Weibo accounts, with the hashtags "the Chinese national flag has 1.4 billion flag bearers" and "I am a flag bearer".

Artists who are perceived to be anti-Beijing have reportedly been given the cold shoulder by broadcaster TVB which fears losing access to the lucrative mainland Chinese market.

Chan, who is best known for his starring role in the Young And Dangerous franchise of gangster movies in the 1990s, staged a concert in Singapore in May.