‘Indians will swing back to BN in Teluk Intan’

The younger generation especially are likely to be the kingmakers in the by-election this weekend, says MIC Youth.

TELUK INTAN: Indian voters are returning to the Barisan Nasional (BN) fold and this augurs well for its chances in the Teluk Intan by-election, said MIC Youth.

Its new media bureau chief, P Punithan, said that Indian voters, especially the younger ones in the constituency, are swinging their support back to the party.

“We have launched two operations, ‘Ops Jejak’ and ‘Ops Jelas’. Under the first, we’ve identified that Teluk Intan has about 2,500 Indian voters under the age of 40.

“Under ‘Ops Jelas’, we are convincing them to cast their ballots for BN,” said Punithan.

The Teluk Intan by-election on May 31 will see a straight fight between Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong and DAP’s Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud.

The election was triggered after its incumbent, DAP’s Seah Leong Pong succumbed to cancer on May 1.

The Elections Commission will open 36 polling centres, one for early voting. Teluk Intan comprises 38.61 % Malay voters, 41.94% Chinese, 19% Indians, and 0.22 % others.

Punithan said that Indians will likely be the ‘kingmakers’ in the by-election, thus, MIC is sparing no effort in trying to gain support from the community.

“There are 11,576 registered Indian voters here. For now, we are focused at 17 out of the 36 polling centres designated by the EC.

“From the 17 polling stations, two have 1,500 Indian voters each, seven with 700 voters each, and eight more with 200 each,” he said.

Punithan added that MIC president G Palanivel and deputy Dr S Subramaniam are due to arrive in Teluk Intan today and spend the next three days campaigning.