Kuala Lumpur – In a press statement widely published in Tamil media today Hindraf’s Chairman P.Waythamurthy has named the Parliament and State constituencies Hindraf is targeting to contest under Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) banner in GE-14.
As predicted by selliyal.com in an article recently, Waythamurthy has announced that the 4 parliament seats Hindraf targeting to contest are Segamat, Hulu Selangor, Tapah and Cameron Highlands.
These four seats are currently held by MIC under Barisan Nasional banner. Segamat is represented by MIC’s President Datuk Seri Dr S.Subramaniam, Hulu Selangor is held by Datuk P.Kamalanathan, Tapah is held by Datuk M.Saravanan, and former MIC President Datuk Seri G.Palanivel is currently representing Cameron Highlands.
According to MIC sources, the party is expected to retain their respective incumbent members of Parliament for Segamat, Hulu Selangor and Tapah but likely to field a new candidate for Cameron Highlands.
MyPPP President Tan Sri Kayveas is also staking a strong claim on Cameron Highlands and has continuously stated that he would contest in Camerons under BN ticket.
Which are the state seats?
Waythamurthy’s Hindraf is also seeking to contest the state seats of Rantau and Jeram Padang (Negeri Sembilan) and Layang-Layang and Tanjong Puteri (Johore).
Of these state seats, Jeram Padang is currently held by MIC. Rantau is held by UMNO-BN. Both seats in Negeri Sembilan have substantial Indian voters. According to 2013 election records, 36% of voters in Jeram Padang are Indians, while Rantau has 28% Indian voters.
Interestingly, Rantau’s current state assemblyman is none other than the Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Hassan himself. Therefore there is no need for explanation why Hindraf is eying this seat. With the support from a large number of Indian voters, Hindraf hopes to defeat the Menteri Besar in his own ground to earn the status of ‘Giant-killer’.
Both the state seats of Layang-layang and Tanjong Puteri in Johore are currently held by UMNO. Layang-layang has 15% Indian voters, while Tanjong Puteri has only about 5% Indian voters according to 2013 election records. Therefore, it is surprising why Hindraf is eying Malay majority state seats with much less Indian voters, leaving out other state seats contested by the MIC.
Waythamurthy has also said that Hindraf is ready to contest under the banners of Pakatan Harapan’s component parties in GE 14.
Waythamurthy also claimed that Hindraf would be able to garner for Pakatan Harapan sizable Indian votes from 31 Parliament and 59 state constituencies.
However, it is still early to say whether PH leadership would agree to Hindraf’s requests on seat allocations.
