JOHOR BARU: MIC is expected to contest in Perling in the upcoming Johor state election, in what is seen as a swap with its Barisan Nasional partners.
MIC president Tan Sri S. Vigneswaran said his party is looking at Perling as a new seat to contest following seat negotiations with the other component parties in Barisan.
“During the last state election, MIC contested in four seats.
“This time round, Perling is one of the new seats we are looking at while Tenggaroh is our incumbent seat that will be replaced,” he said after launching MIC’s state election machinery on Saturday (June 13).
In the 15th Johor state election held in 2022, MIC contested in four seats - Kemelah, Kahang, Tenggaroh and Bukit Batu - and won three.
K. Raven Kumar won in Tenggaroh and went on to be appointed a state exco, N. Saraswati won in Kemelah and R. Vidyananthan won in Kahang while S. Suppayah lost Bukit Batu to PKR’s Arthur Chiong Sen Sern with a majority vote of 137.
MCA contested in the Perling state constituency during the last state election.
Asked whether MIC is directly swapping the Perling seat with MCA, Vigneswaran said all component parties are involved in the seat negotiations.
“In these talks, all component parties are involved. I cannot explain a lot,” he said.
He also did not eliminate the possibility of incumbent Tenggaroh assemblyman Raven Kumar contesting in Bukit Batu following the seat swap.
When asked about the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) intention to contest two seats in the state polls, Vigneswaran declined to comment, saying that it was up to the Barisan chairman to decide on the matter.
“Either way, PPP is a multi-racial party so it does not mean they will only ask for MIC seats - they can even take Umno or MCA seats. I cannot speak on their behalf,” he added.
Meanwhile, Vigneswaran said MIC is also looking to contest in two seats in the upcoming Negri Sembilan state election set for Aug 1.
Johor’s nomination day is set to take place on June 27 and polling day has been set on July 11 following the dissolution of the state legislative assembly on June 1.
