MIC president rules himself out of Cameron Highlands polls

MIC president S Vigneswaran has shot down rumours that he will be contesting in the upcoming Cameron Highlands by-election.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, the Dewan Negara president denied being one of the party’s shortlisted candidates.

“No lah, I am very happy being the president of the Senate,” he said.

Vigneswaran added that MIC was still contemplating who to field saying the decision would be made and announced “by the first week of January”.

The New Straits Times had speculated that MIC vice-president and former deputy minister T Murugiah is a frontrunner to be a candidate for the seat.

Meanwhile, DAP Pahang deputy chairperson M Manogaran (below), who contested the Cameron Highlands seat in the 14th general election (GE14), said he expected to be fielded once again.

“The party has indicated that it is me but I will wait for the official announcement.

“Ultimately, it is the party that decides so I will leave it to the leadership,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted.

It has also been speculated that disputed MyPPP president T Kayveas, who was lobbyinghard for the seat before GE14, might enter the race as well.

When contacted, Kayveas said he had “not decided” whether to contest.

PAS, which also contested the seat in GE14, has announced that it will not be fielding a candidate this time but will support an opposition candidate of its choice.

Similarly, Cameron Highlands PSM chief B Suresh Kumar said he was not in favour of the party contesting the seat again.

The Cameron Highlands by-election was triggered when the Election Court declared the seat vacant after determining that vote-buying had led to MIC vice-president C Sivarraajh’s win in GE14.

MIC did not appeal the decision and the EC later announced a by-election, setting Jan 12 as nomination day and Jan 26 as polling day.

Yesterday, the EC disqualified Sivarraajh (above) from contesting or voting in polls for five years.

In GE14, he won the seat in a five-cornered fight with 10,307 votes, a slim 597 votes more than Manogaran’s 9,710 votes. - Mkini