UMNO has not asked to contest the Cameron Highlands seat, MIC president S.A. Vigneswaran said today.

Denying speculation that Barisan Nasional’s lynchpin party would take over the seat that has traditionally been MIC’s, he said the ethnic Indian party also had no intention of giving Umno the federal constituency in Pahang.

He said BN component parties would meet on Thursday to discuss the coalition’s strategy before announcing its candidate.

“No such thing as we are giving the seat to Umno, and Umno did not ask for the seat from us.

“We will meet this Thursday with Umno and MCA to discuss the best possible candidate. We are now looking for ways to win the election,” he said after an MIC leadership meeting today.

Vigneswaran said he had the support of party members to discuss candidate selection with Umno and MCA.

“I have been given the mandate to hold this discussion this Thursday.” 

News portal Malay Mail earlier today reported that negotiations between MIC and Umno for the Malay party to field a candidate in what has traditionally been MIC’s ground were ongoing.

The Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat fell vacant when the election court nullified its 14th general election results after finding sufficient evidence of vote-buying by its MP, C. Sivarraajh, who is also MIC vice-president.

The Election Commission barred Sivarraajh from re-contesting the seat following the court’s verdict, and also from registering as a voter or contesting as a candidate for any election for five years from December 13, 2018.

Yesterday, however, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed Sivarraajh to challenge the decision to bar him, and fixed Thursday to hear the merits of the application.

The Cameron Highlands seat was won by BN in GE14, with Sivarraajh winning 10,307 votes against Manogaran’s 9,710 votes in a five-cornered fight.

The filing of nominations will be held on January 12 and polling on January 26. – January 8, 2019.