BN announces candidate withdrawal from Padang Serai polls

The Padang Serai election will mainly be a contest between Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional (PN) as BN, a partner in the federal government, will now back Harapan’s Sofee Razak.

Kedah BN chief Jamil Khir Baharom announced that his coalition’s candidate C Sivarraajh has pulled out from the race and pledged to support the Harapan candidate.

“The candidate Sivarraajh pledged his support and the BN election machinery will now back Sofee to ensure his victory in the election,” he said.

Jamil (above) made the announcement during a ceramah at Padang Meiha near Padang Serai, Kedah, last night.

This brought an end to speculations over Sivarraajh’s candidacy over the last two days as his campaigning, including walkabouts in the constituency, has been slowing down.

It was believed an understanding was reached between Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and BN chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Also present last night were Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, Kedah Amanah chief Mahfuz Omar, as well as several state Harapan and BN leaders.

There was an enthusiastic crowd at Padang Meiha witnessing a strange sight as former foes Harapan and BN shared the same political stage for a second time - the first being a ceramah on Wednesday for the Tioman polls in Pahang.

Sofee, speaking at the ceramah, urged voters to support Harapan, citing the newly appointed prime minister’s ability to administer the government fairly.

Sofee will be facing PN’s Azman Nasruddin and independent candidate Sreanandha Rao.

Warisan candidate Bakri Hashim on Thursday announced his withdrawal from the election and pledged his support to Sofee. Warisan, like BN, is also part of Anwar’s federal government.

The Padang Serai election was deferred to Dec 7 when Harapan candidate M Karupaiya died several days before polling on Nov 19.

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