KUALA LUMPUR: MIC will contest all 10 parliamentary seats announced for the 15th General Elections (GE15), brushing off any rumours about a rift with the Barisan Nasional (Barisan) leadership over seat allocation.
MIC president Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran said the party had accepted the decision made by the Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on the seats, describing it as fair.
"MIC hopes that after the chairman names a candidate for Parliament (to contest), the name will be accepted with an open heart in areas where Umno, MCA and MIC are contesting.
"We also hope MIC divisions will not make their own decision which could affect the outcome of the election, especially at the traditional seats.
"Our focus remains on the friendship and strength within Barisan in facing the GE15. We must make sure that our candidates garner the support they need to win, especially getting the votes from the Indian community," he said on Wednesday (Nov 2).
Vigneswaran was speaking to reporters after an emergency meeting with the Central Working Committee (CWC) whereby the party also denied boycotting the candidates announced to represent Barisan for GE15.
MIC leaders were absent during the announcement of Barisan candidates on Tuesday night (Nov 1), sparking rumours of a rift in the coalition over several issues, and leading people to speculate whether the party would contest in GE15.
MIC was given 10 seats by Barisan - Sungai Siput, Tapah, Hulu Selangor, Teluk Intan, Kuala Langat, Port Dickson, Batu, Padang Serai, Segamat and Kota Raja.
Vigneswaran also said that the MIC traditional seat of Sungai Buloh was swapped with Umno because incumbent Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin was a likeable candidate with a large following, and it was more important for a Barisan candidate to win the seat.
He added the party also accepted the decision by Barisan leadership to field four Friends of BN candidates in GE15 from Makkal Sakti Party, All Malaysian Indian Progressive Front (IPF) and the Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma).
As such, he said he hoped there would be no more issues arising with regard to the matter.
He added that during the discussions on seat distribution for GE15, the Batu seat was either going to MIC or Kimma, while MCA was not even in the picture.
Datuk Kohilan Pillay was then named as the candidate for Batu by Ahmad Zahid.
Separately, Vigneswaran also addressed the issue of a supposed tussle between MIC and MCA over the Batu parliament seat, saying that any announcement on who was contesting must come from the Barisan chairman.
