Bersatu leader upset at lack of PN Indian candidates in S'gor

Bersatu associate wing committee member Vasantha Kumar is upset with Perikatan Nasional over the high possibility that there would be no Indian candidates for the parliamentary seats in Selangor.

"The fight for seats between Selangor's component parties is heating up and seat allocations are yet to be finalised.

"There’s a big question mark over seats for Indian candidates while Gerakan is estimated to get three to four seats and is putting Chinese candidates in all of them," claimed Vasantha, who was one of the five Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders detained under the now-repealed Internal Security Act in 2007.

He said that of the 22 parliamentary seats in Selangor, Pakatan Harapan fielded four Indian faces in Puchong (Gobind Singh Deo), Klang (Charles Santiago), Sungai Buloh (R Sivarasa) and Kuala Langat (Dr Xavier Jayakumar).

BN also had the same quota, fielding defeated candidates in Kapar, Kota Raja, Sungai Buloh and Hulu Selangor.

Vasantha claimed that for GE15, Harapan and BN would have a similar allocation but that PN was leaving Indians out of the picture.

"Selangor is the state that has the largest composition of Indian voters at 25 percent. Indian voters exceed 10 percent in 15 of the parliamentary seats and this vote is significant to determine victory.

"Indian voters have started to switch from BN to Harapan since GE12 and until today, they are examining the active involvement of Indian politicians among political parties.

"PN on the other hand has not been able to determine the seats of the Indian candidates," he said.

Vasantha cited Kuala Langat as one area where Indians were being ignored by PN.

"Until last month, this seat was reserved as an Indian seat but now it's a different story. The greed for the political power of some individuals and parties will invite defeat even though the chances for victory are bright.

"I have been serving for the past three years after receiving instructions from the leadership. The Community Service Centre has been operating for the last two years. A lot of energy and ringgit has been spent to elevate PN but now there is also an attempt to take away the seat," he alleged.

Xavier won the Kuala Langat parliamentary seat on a PKR ticket in 2018, beating candidates from Umno and PAS by a 17,112-vote majority.

He eventually defected to support the PN coalition and earlier this month was announced as a member of Zuraida Kamaruddin's Parti Bangsa Malaysia.

"The voter composition is Malay 56 percent, Indian 18 percent and Chinese 24 percent, others two percent. Non-Malay voters are decisive for victory.

"Selangor PN needs to be careful in allocating seats appropriately for all races," said Vasantha.

COMMENT | Pamu - the non-voters all parties should fear

Bersatu to use PAS logo in Kelantan

Hulu Selangor seat: Umno, MIC tussle over right to contest

YOURSAY | Will GE15 mark the end of Bersatu?

GE15: Perak PN finalises state seats allocation

PN to most likely retain all incumbents in GE15, Muhyiddin says