JOHOR BAHRU: The campaign to wins the hearts of the voters in Kempas and Tiram in the Johor state election is expected to be the toughest of all as there will be seven-cornered fights for the two seats.

In Kempas, the seven candidates running for the seats are Datuk Ramlee Bohani of Barisan Nasional (BN), Napsiah Khamis Maharan (PKR), Nornekman Osman of Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), Nur Faizal Abdullah of Perikatan Nasional (PN) and three independents - Mohd Azwan Abd Rahman, Mohd Suhimi A Rahman and Mohd Hambali Munadi.

In Tiram, the contest is between Azizul Bachok (BN), Karim Deraman (PN), Abdul Aziz Harun (Pejuang), S. Gopalakrishnan (PKR), Mohd Azmi Ali (PBM) and two independents, P. Bala Sundaram and J. Jayasangkar.

There will be six-cormered fights in four seats - Bukit Pasir, Maharani, Puteri Wangsa and Larkin; and a five-cornered fight in eight seats, namely Tangkak, Bukit Naning, Semerah, Senggarang, Endau, Permas, Stulang and Kota Iskandar.

Four-cornered fights are inevitable for 35 seats, while three-cornered fights for seven others.

A total of 239 candidates are qualified to contest to win the hearts of 2,574,835 regular voters who would cast their votes in the polls on March 12, and 22,531 early voters on March 8.

-- BERNAMA