All is calm in Klang

KLANG: The multipurpose hall of the District and Land Office here was a picture of calm when 17 candidates turned up to file their nomination papers for the Kapar parliamentary and state seats.

The Kapar parliamentary and Sementa state seats will each see a four-cornered fight, while Meru and Selat Klang will see a fivecornered fight.

For the Kapar seat, Wanita MIC chief Datuk Mohana Muniandy Raman will face Pas’ Dr Abdul Rani Osman (former Selangor Pas commissioner and Meru assemblyman), PKR’s Datuk Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid and Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s (PRM) S. Manikavasagam (former Kapar member of parliament).

Mohana’s nomination was proposed by Kapar Barisan Nasional Youth chief Suhaidi Zurani and seconded by Kapar MIC chief Gopal Krishnan Mariappan.

The Sementa seat will see Datuk Saroni Judi (BN) battling Wan Hasrina Wan Hassan (Pas), Dr Daroyah Alwi (PKR) and N. Gandhi (PRM).

For the Meru state seat, Khairul Anuar Saimun (BN) will face Noor Najhan Mohamad Salleh (Pas), Mohd Fakhrulrazi Mokhtar (PKR), S. Manikavasagam (PRM) and independent candidate Shee Chee Weng.

The Selat Klang state seat will see Dr Mohd Khairi Hussin (BN) contest against Dr Halimah Ali (Pas), Datuk Abdul Rashid Asari (PKR), Jeichandran Wadivelu (PRM) and independent candidate Zainal Azwar Kamaruddin.

The candidates were seen exchanging pleasantries while waiting for the official announcement. Even though they were from different political parties, the candidates were all smiles and posed for group photos.

BN candidates, clad in blue, arrived at the nomination centre at 8.50am, accompanied by some 2,000 supporters. PKR candidates arrived at 8.40am, accompanied by some 1,000 supporters, while Pas candidates arrived at 8.45am.

They submitted their nomination papers at 9am and the Election Commission returning officer closed filing of the papers at 10am. The official announcement of the candidates according to the filing of papers was made at 11am. It was greeted with cheers from the supporters, who were waiting outside the hall compound.

Kapar is a constituency of 124,983 voters, consisting of 70.72 per cent Malays, 14.78 Chinese, 13.55 per cent Indians and 0.58 per cent of other races.

Prior to the redelineation exercise, it had about 144,000 voters (50 per cent Malay, 35 per cent Chinese and 15 per cent Indians).