KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 – The MIC will be fielding its candidates in nine parliamentary and 18 state seats in the 13th General Election, polling for which is on May 5.
MIC President Datuk Seri G. Palanivel said today 14 of the 27 candidates or more than 50 per cent were new faces. He said the candidates were nominated by the party based on several key criteria such as position in the party, service tendered and educational
background.
Three of the candidates are from MIC Youth and one from Wanita MIC, he said when announcing the candidates at the MIC headquarters here. Palanivel said the Barisan Nasional (BN) had allocated MIC the same parliamentary seats it contested in the 2008 general election, but there were slight changes in the allocation of state seats.
“We have swapped six state seats for five new state seats and one senate post. The new seats are Ijok in Selangor, Buntong and Jelapang in Perak, Gadek in Melaka and Puteri Wangsa in Johor.
“We swapped the seats with other BN component parties for a win-win solution. All the swapped seats are winnable,” he said. The former MIC seats, which were swapped, are Pasir Panjang, Sungkai and Behrang in Perak, Bukit Melawati in Selangor, Asahan in Melaka and Permas in Johor.
In the 2008 election, the MIC contested nine parliamentary and 19 state seats. Palanivel, who is a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said the MIC was confident of winning all the nine parliamentary seats and 16 of the 18 state seats.
“I am very sure that MIC will regain its strength, given that we are working very hard under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. I am sure MIC will win,” he said.
He said the BN would be able to win Selangor, Perak and Kedah in the upcoming polls, given the hard work put in by Najib and the BN.
– BERNAMA
