Eight aspiring candidates, including two incumbents vying for the three MIC vice-president posts, are prepared to face a tough road to win the race.

The battle stage has been set since Nov 16, as the candidates began their two-week campaign to garner support for their respective bids.

The eight are the two incumbents, Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk M. Saravanan and Perak State Assembly Speaker Datuk Seri S. K. Devamany, as well as former Youth chiefs Datuk S. A. Vigneswaran and Datuk T. Mohan.

The others are Johor Baharu division chief Datuk S. Balakrishnan, treasurer-general Datuk Jaspal Singh, former party vice-president Datuk S. Sothinathan and MIC Bukit Bintang division deputy chairman James Selvaraja.

Being focused and firm, Saravanan, who has come up the party ranks from the bottom in the last 26 years, said the delegates were mature enough and they know very well who was relevant to the party.

"I am merely continuing what I have been doing all this while. I do not go around telling people what I will do, but I campaign with what I have done and on how to sustain the party," he told Bernama recently.

He noted that his aim was to improve the economic empowerment of the young Indian generation in areas of business, farming and agriculture.

Devamany, whose tagline is 'Inspire Minds to Change Lives', said he would like to bring more democracy and transformation within the party to encourage more members to join.

"MIC needs to be reformed to show the community that we are genuine leaders who want to empower and bring economic strength to the community, in order to be part of the Vision 2020 national agenda," he said.

The vibrant and energetic Mohan, who has been dubbed 'Indian Michael Chong' for helping the poor and needy, has been noted as standing up for the rights of the community.

Sharing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's 'can do' positivity, Mohan is confident of his vice-presidency bid based on feedback of the social media and his focus on garnering support from delegates.

"Since young, I know too well, what hardship is about. With my determination, I have improved a lot in life today. So, my burning desire is always to help more needy and poor people," he said.

Despite being beaten in his bid for the vice-presidency in the 2009 polls, Balakrishnan said almost 26 division chairmen were backing him up, and he was confident of winning this time around.

Selvaraja, who is playing the independent card role, wants to bring change in the community's standing in business equity, education and move the party forward.

Sothinathan, a vice-president from 2006 to 2009, said: “In the past three to four years, when I was not in the mainstream of politics, I faced hurdles in the course of serving the people. My hands were tied and I couldn’t effectively serve the Indian community.”

In 2008, he contested and lost in the fight for the deputy president’s post.

Sothinathan said there was a strong need to strengthen the party to get back to its glory days.

Jaspal and Vigneswaran share similar sentiments and are confident of prevailing in the contest. They believe MIC needs to transform itself to be more relevant to the Indian community.

More than 1,400 delegates will cast their votes for the post of three vice-presidents and 23 central working committee members during the 67th Annual General Meeting this weekend in Malacca.