GE14 | Candidates contesting for parliamentary and state seats at the state level in the 14th general election (GE14) will be announced by the respective BN state chairpersons. 

BN deputy chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, as the BN chair, had empowered all state BN chiefs to announce candidates for parliamentary and state levels.

"We (the BN leadership) have handed it over to the state BN chiefs to decide on a suitable date to announce the candidates. So, we leave it to them. There is no need for any hint from any party.

"The decision has been made that all the candidates for the parliamentary and state seats from the states are announced by the state BN chairperson," he told reporters after visiting the Parit 4 voting district centre (PDM) in Bagan Datuk today.

He said this when commenting on rumours over the last few days that the caretaker prime minister would hand over the nomination credentials to BN candidates at the Putra World Trade Centre in stages on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

Zahid denied the allegations and said: "Rumours are normal, do not write news based on rumours. I am talking as the BN deputy chairperson, this is not a rumour, it's true.

On April 15, Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said BN was expected to announce the list of candidates for GE14, seven or ten days before nominations on April 28.

The Election Commission has set the polling day for GE14 on May 9, the nomination date on April 28, while the date for the early polling is May 5.

-- Bernama