The Sungai Siput parliamentary seat and the two state seats within that constituency will see three-cornered fights on March 21.

The Barisan Nasional/MIC incumbent for the parliamentary seat, S Samy Vellu will face not only Dr D Jeyakumar ( left ) on a Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) ticket but also DAP's P Ponmugam, a former MIC member.

Jeyakumar's Parti Sosisalis Malaysia's (PSM) registration was dismissed by the Registrar of Societies and a court appeal is pending on this matter.

In the 1999 general election, Jeyakumar had contested under a DAP banner and lost to Samy Vellu by 5,259 votes.

He obtained 12,221 votes as opposed to Samy Vellu's 17,480. He, however, managed to slice the majority obtained by the MIC president in the 1995 polls.

PSM viewed DAP's entry into the polls as a spoiler which could adversely affect its battle against Samy Vellu.

The party still harboured the hope that Ponmugam might withdraw from the contest. Under the amended election law, candidates have up to three days after nominations to pull out without forfeiting their deposit.

State seats

For Jalong , DAP's Ding Chin Aik will take on Keadilan's K Kunasegaran and BN/Gerakan incumbent candidate Chang Ko Youn.

Five years ago, Chang chalked up 9,978 votes to defeat DAP's Lam Wai Mun by 2,984 votes. Lam garnered 6,994 votes.

In Lintang , DAP candidate N Ponniah will square off with PAS' retired army general Ahmad Azlan Othman and BN/ Umno candidate Ahmad Pakeh Adam.

In the 1999 election, Umno's Mohd Padil Harun triumphed over PAS candidate Ahmad Mazlan Othman by a majority of 2,958 votes.

Leadership vacuum

The Lintang seat fell vacant with the death of Mohd Padil about nine months ago.

PAS believes it has a good chance here given the "leadership vacuum" left behind by the incumbent's death.

Approached today, Ahmad Mazlan said that up to the very last minute, Umno was still undecided on which candidate it would be fielding out a list of four names.

Such "uncertainties" within the other camp suggest that PAS chances of victory are greater.

Ahmad Mazlan's campaigners told malaysiakini that the party's strength right now lies with the small Malay majority in Lintang (53 percent), which means that in order to secure a win, it is crucial that it also wins over non-Malay support.

Opposition votes split

DAP's presence, they said, may prevent it from winning those extra non-Malay votes.

In 1999, Ponniah stood in Lintang as an independent. DAP was absent from this seat in the last round.

These three-cornered fights are a result of a breakdown in seat negotiations between DAP and Keadilan. The two are expected to lock horns in more than 20 seats nationwide.

Candidates of all three parties marched from their nearby party headquarters to the Sungai Siput nomination centre, starting at just after 8am.

Sungai Siput's main road took on a festive air, as both opposition and BN supporters about 400 from BN, 200 from PSM (Keadilan), 150 from PAS and DAP 50 - carried their respective flags and chanted party slogans.