Since the 1970s the MIC's sole exco seat in the Johor state government seems to be jinxed.

In the 1978 general election, the MIC state assemblyman in Johor and state exco member was G Pasamanikam, then Johor MIC chairman.

However, then MIC president V Manikavasagam was unhappy with him as he had supported S Samy Velu against S Subramaniam in the 1977 MIC deputy president elections. So Manikavasagam dropped Pasamanikam and replaced him with the Johore MIC secretary MK Muthusamy.

However, then Johor mentri besar Othman Saad was unhappy with the move, and insisted on retaining Pasamanikam. The tussle between Manikavasagam and the mentri besar became so intense that prime minister and Barisan Nasional chairman Hussein Onn had to intervene. Finally, Othman gave in. He agreed to the MIC's choice and there that there was no such thing as Barisan's choice.

However, after the general election the mentri besar put his foot down and said that the Johor state government members was his choice and he would not give the MIC a state exco seat. In 1978, the MIC lost its Johor state exco only to regain it many years later.

In the 1990 election, the Segamat member of parliament and the MIC deputy president S Subramaniam was dropped by Samy Vellu.

The Sultan of Johor, who had very cordial relationship with Subramaniam, was upset with the dropping of Subramaniam and apparently intervened to reinstate him. However, Samy Vellu resisted.

After the elections, when the Johor state exco was drawn up, MIC was not given an exco seat. Only after about 10 years, in 1999, was the MIC reinstated with when KS Balakrishnan was appointed.

In the current election, again S Subramaniam has been dropped. Although the Johor palace was again unhappy, they first had to deal with the state mentri besar issue involving Abdul Ghani Othman.

And now, all the respective parties in Johor are waiting eagerly to see how the event will unfold when the Johor state exco is named after the general election.