Bayan Baru PKR Team Reformasi revealed that it was in a ‘critical' condition and publicly appealed to division members to come out in droves and vote for the team during the polls on Saturday.

pkr bayan baru reformasi team pc 230910 ahmad azrizal tahir Spokesperson for the group, Ahmad Azrizal Tahir ( left ), openly predicted that his team may lose with a majority of 50-100 votes if members were not serious about the polls.

However, Ahmad Azrizal claimed that the loss would be due to the team facing a myriad of challenges - from difficulties in mobilising members to vote as Saturday was a working day, to members being complacent about the party after the March 2008 general election.

He called on members who plan to turn up at the polling centre in Sungai Dua Jubilee Senior Citizens' Home on Sept 25, to consider three pertinent points before casting their votes.

A candidate who will support the party, Pakatan Rakyat and Anwar Ibrahim to capture Putrajaya in the coming election, is one of the main points to consider, members were told.

"Another is: who can win the hearts of the 60,000-odd voters in the Bayan Baru constituency? The people are waiting to see how brilliant the Bayan Baru voters are," said Ahmad Azrizal at a press conference in Bukit Jambul today.

"Can the background and history of the candidate ensure that incidences of party hopping will not recur?" he asked, adding that the party had already painfully witnessed several similar episodes this year.

"We cannot accept division leaders who will jump party again in Bayan Baru," he stressed.

‘BN-friendly'

He was referring to former PKR parliamentarian for Bayan Baru, Zahrain Mohd Hashim, who quit the party in February to become ‘BN-friendly'.

Four other parliamentarians and five assemblypersons have also quit the party this year alone, citing lack of faith in the party's leadership.

pkr bayan baru reformasi team pc 230910 sim tze tzin Pantai Jerejak assemblyperson Sim Tze Tsin ( left ), who heads the Team Reformasi group, will square off with former MIC division chief M Nyanasegaran, who reportedly has the solid backing of members in the division.

Speculation is rife that Nyanasegaran, who heads Team Rakyat, will bring the BN culture into the party as he was rumoured to be one of Zahrain's men who joined the party after March 2008.

Team Reformasi is also said to be wary of Nyanasegaran because the latter had jumped party twice - from Gerakan to MIC and then to PKR.

However, Nyanasegaran held a press conference last week to announce that he was never backed by Zahrain; and that he had joined the party of his own free will.

"Please give me fair coverage. The allegations are all untrue, Zahrain never brought me into the party," he told Malaysiakini when contacted.

NONE Meanwhile, when told that Nyanasegaran had denied support from Zahrain, Sim said he was not accusing anyone of any wrongdoing but appealed to members to consider "the facts".

"I merely asked members to consider the background and life history of candidates before they cast their votes on Saturday," said Sim, who is a former aide of party supremo Anwar Ibrahim ( left ).

"How many parties has he (Nyanasegaran) jumped to?" he queried.

Sim also said his team was committed to ensure that there would be no tension or untoward incident during the polls, which will take place between 10am to 4pm.

Other PKR divisions which will go to polls this Saturday include Bukit Mertajam, Jelutong and Tanjong.