MIC, a component of Barisan Nasional (BN), fears it will be totally sidelined for the next general election, leaving it with only one federal seat to defend, said president S.A. Vigneswaran today.

He said this was based on the seat talks undertaken by Umno/BN and Pakatan Harapan (PH) for the six-state elections.

He added that the formula used by Umno and PH was to allow incumbent parties to keep their seats.

This meant there were only a few constituencies available for BN to contest.

“During negotiations (for opposition-held seats), however, giving seats to MCA and MIC was never discussed, especially in Kedah, Penang and Selangor.

“Besides that, Umno was not very spirited in holding talks with MCA and MIC.

“Even though they (Umno) said they would give us seats, it was not discussed in negotiations. Because of that, we decided not to contest the state elections,” Vigneswaran told reporters at the MIC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

He said this was one of the main reasons why MIC and MCA decided to sit out of the state polls, which meant the Indian-based party did not get to defend its sole state seat in Negri Sembilan. Umno will now stand in Jeram Padang.

Vigneswaran said if the same formula is used for GE16, MIC will see a reduced chance of getting more federal seats to contest.

“If we agree to the same formula (for incumbents to defend seats) during GE16, MIC can only contest in Tapah.

“Such negotiations are not suitable for MIC. Our party’s future is more important than contesting in the state elections,” he said.

MIC had contested 10 parliament seats during GE15, of which it only won in Tapah.

PH won the other six seats it contested, Perikatan Nasional scored the remaining three. – July 23, 2023.