UPDATED 3.51PM | GE14 | Wangsa Maju PKR division has urged the party leadership to reconsider their decision to introduce a new candidate for the Wangsa Maju parliamentary seat.

In a statement today, deputy division youth chief Azmee Abd Rahim said the division had proposed two names - incumbent Tan Kee Kwong and deputy division chief Ramzan Abdul Ghafoor Khan - but neither were selected.

Azmee said had the party leadership rejected both nominees, they should have sought another nominee from the Wangsa Maju PKR division.

"We hope the party leadership respects the grassroots, just as how the grassroots respect democracy within the party," he said.

Azmee said Kee Kwong's health, despite rumours, was not an issue and alluded to Kee Kwong being younger than Tan Yee Kew, the candidate chosen by the party leadership.

He argued that both Kee Kwong and Ramzan are already established figures in the community.

Yee Kew was formerly Klang MP and a parliamentary secretary until 2008 when she joined PKR.

Incidentally, there are rumblings over at the BN camp as well, because Wangsa Maju Umno division members are disappointed that the right to field a candidate for the seat has been surrendered to MCA.

Although BN reserved this right for MCA, it was "lent" to Umno as part of a one-off arrangement for the 13th general election.

PKR has held Wangsa Maju since 2008. This time round, the contest will be between Yee Kew, BN's Yew Teong Look and PAS' Razali Tumiran.

Unhappiness in Kapar, too

Meanwhile, a group of about 30 PKR grassroots members from Kapar also held a protest outside party headquarters in Tropicana, Petaling Jaya today, against the candidate choice in their constituency.

A PKR grassroots leader from Kapar, Pathmanathan Nadarajan, said they rejected Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid as PKR’s candidate for the parliamentary seat.

Instead, he said, they want former Hindraf leader K Vasantha Kumar as PKR’s candidate for Kapar, as it is an Indian-majority constituency and so, should have an Indian candidate.

“The residents and voters at Kapar all support K Vasantha Kumar, we want him to contest in this area,” Pathmanathan told Malaysiakini.

“We will not accept Abdullah Sani as a candidate (in Kapar) because he does not do any work, he does not come to the ground,” he claimed.

He added that the group had handed over a memorandum to the party leadership on this matter this morning during the protest.

The incumbent Kapar MP is G Manivannan who has been moved to the Hutan Melintang state seat in Perak in next month's polls.

Abdullah Sani, meanwhile, is the incumbent Kuala Langat MP, having won the parliamentary seat in the previous election with an over 5,000-vote lead.