PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang (above) today brushed off Merdeka Center's survey which predicted that his party would finally lose its grip on Kelantan in the upcoming polls.

Abdul Hadi said the party's intelligence gathering was more grounded because it relied on party branches.

"Their research relied on telephone (interviews). It is simplistic.

"That's why we believe that our research is more grounded," he said.

Nevertheless, he said PAS took cognisance of Merdeka Center's research because it would help them identify weaknesses.

PAS has ruled Kelantan since 1990 but its support appears to be wavering following the death of its most notable party leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

Merdeka Centre's survey, which was conducted earlier this month, had concluded that BN was now up 55 points, ahead of PAS (35) and Pakatan Harapan (10).

Moreover, PAS has been perceived to be cosying up to Umno of late and this had put off voters.

The pollster predicted that PAS will still hold on to between 15 and 20 of Kelantan's 45 legislative assembly seats.

Merdeka Center's predictions on Kelantan correlates with similar studies by Institute Darul Ehsan and Invoke Malaysia.