Bukit Gelugor: DAP to meet on April 28 to discuss by-election

DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC), the party's highest decision making body will meet on April 28 to discuss on the Bukit Gelugor by-election, said Acting Chairman Tan Kok Wai.

However, he was not sure if the selection of the candidate would be discussed at the meeting as it was normally done by the party's four member selection committee.

"I'm not sure if we are going to discuss about the candidate. We normally have this four men committee, who act on behalf CEC to select the party's candidate during the general election," he told Bernama when contacted here on Thursday.

Therefore, he said, matters relating to the candidates will only be known after next Monday meeting.

The Penang DAP state chairman Chow Kon Yeow had earlier said the party has yet to shortlist any candidate for the coming Bukit Gelugor by-election following the demise of the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) Karpal Singh.

This is despite intense speculation that either Karpal Singhs son, Ramkarpal or his daughter Sangeet Kaur Deo, will be fielded in the predominantly Chinese populated parliamentary seat.

Several Chinese daily had speculated that Karpal Singh's eldest son Jagdeep Singh Deo, who is currently the state assemblyman for Datuk Keramat and a Penang state Exco, was also among the likely candidates.

The other possible candidates include three Penang municipal councilors - Harvindar Singh, Tan Kim Hooi and Sukumar Subramaniam - apart from state DAP veteran and elected committee member Gooi Seong Kim.

However, talks on Jagdeep's candidacy were put to rest on the grounds that his father Karpal was the advocator of the "one man-one seat" policy - that the chosen candidate contests only one seat, either state or parliamentary instead of both.

The Election Commission (EC) fixed May 25 as polling day for the Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat by-election, while nomination for the contest on May 12. Early polling is set for May 21.

Karpal Singh won the seat in 2004 by defeating Barisan Nasionals (BN) Lim Boo Chang with a 1,261 majority.

In 2008, Karpal defended the seat against BNs Datuk Koay Kar Huah with a 21,015 majority and defended it again in 2013 against BNs Teh Beng Yeam with bigger majority of 41,778 votes.