Johor MIC has flagged four or five seats it can win, says Vignes

MIC president SA Vigneswaran said the party had identified four to five seats that could be won if the party was given a chance to contest them in the upcoming Johor state assembly elections.

He said he would hold discussions with Johor Umno Liaison Chairperson Hasni Mohammad at 2pm today regarding BN's preparations, including the seats that could be given to MIC to contest.

"I will meet the Johor menteri besar this afternoon.

"After that, I will meet with the BN leader Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to further discuss which seats should be contested by the MIC," he told reporters at the Subhas Chandra Bose Anniversary Ceremony, which was held to honour the freedom fighter involved in the Indian independence movement at Wisma Tun Sambanthan, Kuala Lumpur.

Commenting further, Vigneswaran (above) said MIC would not contest in a seat if it did not stand a chance of winning.

"That's not us. We want to contest so that we can win. If we can't win, it's pointless.

"So, the thing we have to consider is where are the seats that we can win on behalf of MIC," he said.

 The Johor state polls are expected to be held this Febuary after Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar agreed to dissolve the Johor state assembly.

Contest four seats

Meanwhile, an internal MIC source said that the party is likely to contest in four seats.

He said the party would retain the two traditional state constituencies and receive two new state constituencies.

"We will retain the Tenggaroh and Kahang state constituencies. And the Gambir and Skudai state constituencies that we ran in previously will be changed to Tangkak and Mengkibol.

"For the Tenggaroh and Kahang state constituencies, the MIC will retain its incumbents (K Raven Kumar- Tenggaroh) and (R Vidyanathan- Kahang).

"In the two new seats, Tangkak and Mengkibol will see us field MIC secretary-general RT Rajasekaran and former Kluang MIC division chief G Raman respectively.

"But, we are still in the early stages. Maybe there will be an exchange in the future," he said.

In GE13, MIC contested in four state seats. The party won the Tenggaroh and Kahang state constituencies. While losing in Gambir and Skudai.

Nationally the party had a peak of 9MPs in the 2004 general elections, but currently only holds one seat through deputy president M Saravanan. - Mkini