INDIAN voters can become the kingmakers to score as many as 64 parliamentary seats in the upcoming general election, an internal study conducted by MIC revealed.

This matter is of great significance as three-cornered fights are anticipated over many seats in GE15, said the party’s vice-president Sivarraajh Chandran.

Sivarraajh said that constituencies with more than 20% of Indians voters could play a significant role in deciding its winner.

“If we look at calculations based on the study, I think Indians can easily decide (the winner) or have a significant role in the outcome of 64 out of 222 parliamentary seats.

“I believe if we have 21% Indians voters or above in a constituency, then that will be a very significant vote to be a decider in these places,” Sivarraajh told The Malaysian Insight in an exclusive interview.

He said with three-cornered battles anticipated after Umno’s split from Bersatu and with PAS deciding to go with Perikatan Nasional (PN) for the next general election, Indians votes could be the deal clincher in such seats.

“If we look at the split between Umno and PN now, most probably there will be a three-cornered fight (among Umno, PN and PKR).

“So, when a three-cornered fight happens, it will split the Malay votes because these are Malay-dominated parties.

“I think there are many districts facing such a situation. We have identified the places. I would safely say, Indians would decide most of the seats,” he said.

Using the Sg Siput parliamentary constituency as an example, Sivarraajh explained how Indian voters could swing figures there.

“We have around 35% Malay voters, 37% Chinese voters and 21% Indian votes in Sg Siput.

“If Malay votes of around 19,200 here are split by three, we have around 6,500 for each party.

“But 21% of Indian votes is around 11,500 votes. These is a solid figure and the battle is to win this and also Chinese votes,” he said.

Pollster Merdeka Centre found that 95% of Chinese voted for Pakatan Harapan (PH). Around 35-40% of Malays voted for Barisan Nasional (BN), another 30-33% supported PAS, and the remaining 25-30% picked PH in the last general election.

For Indian voters, 70-75% supported PH.

Sivarraajh said that BN should do everything within its grasp to win the Indian community so that they can deliver a significant swing in votes to support the coalition.

He said PH’s incapability to stay in power for a complete term could also sway the voters back to BN in the coming election, which he said was evident from the wins BN-PAS had in nine straight by-elections.

He said MIC will play its role to be the vehicle to drive Indian voters to support BN.

“I believe the change of PH government after its very short stint in power might have an effect to a certain degree. Whether it is significant to create a wave for BN, it is still uncertain.

“Looking at the current scenario – the Covid-19 pandemic, the people’s welfare and the economic situation… I think all these will play a role in deciding where people want to vote.

“I believe that BN has much to do now in order to gain the support and trust of the Indians, especially.

“It is very important to all parties to convince the Indians. If you want to win, you need their vote. So, MIC will play an important role now for BN to bring the (Indian) votes to the coalition,” he said.

Sivarraajh said BN would be the perfect party to represent the whole of Malaysia. – April 3, 2021.