Kuala Lumpur – With the announcement that the Pakatan Harapan parties have finalised their parliamentary seat allocation for West Malaysia for GE-14, it has become clear now as to which are the parties the MIC is likely to face in its 9 Parliamentary seats.
In 2013 MIC was allocated 9 Parliament seats and the quantum is expected to remain the same. There are also speculations that the party may swap some seats with other component parties of Barisan Nasional.
Meanwhile, according to an unofficial report released yesterday, Pakatan Harapan component parties have finalised seat allocations among the component parties. PPBM headed by Tun Mahathir will contest in 52 seats and PKR will contest in 51 seats. DAP has settled for 35 seats while Parti Amanah Negara has been allocated 27 seats. The report has also named the seats that the respective parties will contest.
However, it is believed that the Pakatan component parties have reached an understanding that they are allowed to swap seats among them and therefore some seat-swapping may take place as the general election nears.
Segamat (Johor)
PKR will contest in Segamat.
MIC President Datuk Seri Dr S.Subramaniam has successfully retained Segamat since 2004 in three consecutive general elections. He is expected to contest again in this seat and is seen gearing up election activities in his constituency.
For last few months, there were speculations that Datuk Seri Edmund Santara would contest in Segamat. He even organized some activities in Segamat. However, speculations of his contest died down when talks surfaced that DAP is eying the seat.
However, with the announcement that PKR has been allocated Segamat, it is yet to be seen whether the seat will be allocated to Edmund Santhara.
Teluk Kemang (Negeri Sembilan)
Teluk Kemang has once again been allocated to PKR. MIC held the seat for several consecutive elections but lost it in 2008. In 2013 also MIC was unable to wrest back the seat from PKR.
Kapar, Subang, Hulu Selangor (Selangor)
Three parliament seats in Selangor traditionally contested by MIC are Kapar, Subang and Hulu Selangor. In 2013 they managed to win Hulu Selangor but lost in Kapar and Subang.
PKR will be contesting in all the three seats.
Subang is currently held by PKR Vice President R.Sivarasah and Kapar is held by Manivannan also from PKR.
In 2013 PKR contested the Hulu Selangor seat against P.Kamalanathan but lost. MIC is expected to field Deputy Education Minister P.Kamalanathan again in this seat.
Kota Raja (Selangor)
MIC will face a candidate from Parti Amanah as the seat has been allocated to them. This seat is currently held by Siti Mariah Binti who won the seat under PAS ticket in 2013. She has since joined Amanah and is expected to be retained as a candidate.
Sungei Siput (Perak)
Interestingly Sungei Siput, which was widely expected to be contested by DAP has been allocated to PKR.
The seat is currently held by Dr Michael Jayakumar (pic) who successfully retained it in two consecutive general elections. However, his party Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) has not been incorporated into Pakatan Harapan. Whether PKR will field their own candidate in Sungei Siput or allow Dr Jayakumar to contest the seat under PKR ticket is yet to be seen.
Tapah (Perak)
Tapah will be contested by PPBM. The seat is currently held by MIC CWC member and MIC Wilayah Persekutuan State Chairman Datuk M.Saravanan who is also the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports. He is expected to be retained as a candidate for Tapah again under MIC ticket.
In 2013 PKR’s Vasantha Kumar contested and lost against Saravanan in Tapah.
Cameron Highlands (Pahang)
Cameron Highlands has been allocated to DAP.
The seat is currently held by former MIC President Datuk Seri G.Palanivel. In 2013, Palanivel managed to win the seat with a majority of 462 votes defeating Lawyer M.Manogaran of DAP. Manogaran has already geared up his election activities in Cameron Highlands although he has not been officially named as a candidate.
MIC is expected to field its candidate again in Camerons which it retained in 3 consecutive general elections but MyPPP President Tan Sri Kayveas is also staking a claim on the seat.
