Who will be Selangor BN's candidate for the menteri besar post has long been on the minds of Selangorians even since the last general election.

According to highly-placed BN sources, the most likely candidate is Isham Jalil, a special officer to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Isham, 41, is highly-qualified academically having studied politics, economics and law at Harvard. He also studied finance at Wharton. He now works as a political economist at the Economic Planning Unit (EPU).

He heavily speculated to be BN's candidate for Paya Jaras, a state constituency near Sungai Buloh.

BN lost the Paya Jaras for the first time ever in 2013. The seat was won by PAS Mohd Khairuddin Othman with a majority of 5,522 votes.

According to sources, the upcoming redelineation exercise may play a factor on whether Isham is eventually fielded.

This is because Umno division head Zein Isma Ismail is said to be interested in the seat if the electoral borders there remain at status quo.

Noh or Jamal don't cut it

However, Zein, who is also Selangor Umno information chief, would prefer to be fielded as a candidate for the parliament seat of Subang - or by its proposed new name of Sungai Buloh - should the new boundaries be approved.

The sources explained that the Paya Jaras state seat and the Subang parliamentary seat (soon to be called Sungai Buloh) would likely have more Malay voters after the redelineation exercise giving BN a brighter chance of wresting back both seats.

The sources said Isham's personality and background made him a prime contender to take on someone of current Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali's stature.

"In Selangor, we need someone who can compete with Azmin. People only know Noh Omar or Jamal Mohd Yunos.

"While they are famous, but both are not suitable. Isham can take on Azmin. He has a good education and he is clean," said the sources.