PETALING JAYA, april 20- MIC leaders may not have an easy ride in this general election as many of them are facing a multi-cornered fights in their respective constituencies.
MIC president G Palanivel (photo) himself is all set to face a five-way fight for the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat.
Although considered a Barisan Nasional seat, the multi-cornered fight may prove to be a challenge to Palanivel.
His major contender for the seat would be DAP’s M Manogaran, who is a former Teluk Intan MP. Also present to pose a challenge to Palanivel are Berjasa’s Mohd Shokri Mahmood and two other independent candidates, K Kisho Kumar and T Alagu.
MIC vice-president M Saravanan would also be facing a tough fight for the Tapah parliamentary seat as there are three others vying for the seat. He would be facing former Hindraf leader P Vasanthakumar, who is standing under the PKR ticket. Tapah PKR chief Ridzuan Bani and Berjasa’s Shahruzzaman Bistaman would also be taking on Saravanan for the seat.
In Sungai Siput, MIC vice-president SK Devamany is also slated to face a three-cornered fight against Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) Dr Michael Jeyakumar (incumbent) and independent candidate SP Nagalingam. MIC secretary-general S Murugesan would be facing PAS’ Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud, together with three other challengers for the Kota Raja parliamentary seat. Others vying for the Kota Raja seat are Human Rights Party (HRP) chairman P Uthayakumar and an independent candidate Azmi Idrus.
MIC central working committee (CWC) member P Kamalanathan would also be facing a four- cornered fight against PKR’s Khalid Jaafar and two other independents at Hulu Selangor. Kamalanathan is the incumbent for this seat.
One of the independent candidates facing Kamalanathan is tertiary education provider Masterskill Education Group Bhd’s former CEO R Santhara Kumar. Fellow CWC member A Sakthivel would be facing a six-way fight in Kapar against PKR’s G Manivannan, one candidate from Berjasa and three other independent candidates.
MIC’s newface A Prakash Rao will be facing a five cornered fight for the Subang parliamentary seat. He will facing R Sivarasa (incumbent, PKR), Mohd Ismail (Berjasa) and two independent candidates, Nazaruddin Mohd Ferdoos and Edros Abdullah. MIC Youth chief T Mohan would be facing a five-way fight for the Seri Andalas state seat.
Those contesting for the seat are PKR’s Dr Xavier Jeyakumar, HRP’s Uthayakumar and Kita’s KS Kotappan and independent candidate Hanafiah Yusof. Hanafiah is also Jeyakumar’s former aide. MIC deputy president Dr Subramaniam, is the only MIC big gun, who would be facing a straight fight for the Segamat parliamentary seat.
However, Subramaniam would not be having an easy ride as his contender is none other than former health minister, Chua Jui Meng. Chua, who is PKR vice-president, holds a strong presence in Johor since his MCA days.
