MIC didn't contest PD as it feared losing deposit: PKR leader

PD POLLS | Malacca PKR vice-chairperson G Gajendran today claimed that MIC had decided not to contest in the Port Dickson by-election as it feared its candidate will lose the deposit.

This is because Indian voters in the constituency have deep-set hatred towards the party, he said.

"Indian voters in Port Dickson are still not ready to accept MIC despite the party's heavy defeat in the 14th general election.

"We are here (in Port Dickson) since the first day of campaigning. What I can gather is that the Indian voters here have a deep hatred for the party. They are not willing to forgive it," he told reporters in Linggi, Port Dickson today.

That is why several MIC leaders have started to gravitate towards PKR, he added.

Gajendran recalled one incident during the current campaigning when a voter stopped him from entering his house, after mistaking him for a MIC member.

"When we went to his house to campaign, he scolded us, saying MIC people should not enter his house. He only allowed us in after we told him we were from PKR.

"More shockingly, wherever we campaign and MIC is mentioned, the people will start cursing the party. This is a clear sign that MIC could have lost big, and in fact, lost its deposit, had it contested in the by-election," he said.

MIC president SA Vigneswaran had said his party will not contest in the Port Dickson by-election following Umno’s statement of BN not intending to contest the by-election.

"We are disappointed with Umno which did not discuss (its plans) with us before announcing the intention to contest. We only have three component parties in BN. It looks like there hasn’t been a change in BN," he had told reporters.

They didn't clap

Meanwhile, a minor ruckus also broke out on PKR's first day of campaigning, after several party members voiced dissatisfaction with the presence of several MIC members on the campaign trail. As a result, five individuals were remanded for three days.

Former MIC vice-president S Sothinathan is also currently campaigning for Pakatan Harapan candidate Anwar Ibrahim although the reception to his speeches has been lacklustre.

At a recent ceramah in Sri Tanjung, the participants refused to clap their hands when Sothinathan finished giving his speech and only when PKR vice-president Mohd Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin asked them to clap, did they do so.

Sothinathan was a two-term MP for the Port Dickson parliamentary seat, formerly known as Teluk Kemang, from 2000 to 2008, before he was defeated in the 12th general election.

The parliamentary seat had traditionally been MIC's, since the year 1974. - Mkini