Prabakaran defends Batu seat in terrific 10-cornered fight

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan defended the Batu parliamentary seat in the 15th general election (GE15) when incumbent P. Prabakaran (PH-PKR) won in style over nine other challengers.

Prabakaran won handsomely with a majority of 22,241 after collecting a total of 45,716 votes, leaving far behind Chua Tian Chang @ Tian Chua, the former PKR vice president who ran on an Independent ticket but only garnered 4,603 votes.

The other five challengers were MIC vice-president Datuk A Kohilan Pillay (BN-MIC) who obtained 10,398 votes, while Azhar Yahya (PN-PAS) obtained 23,475 votes, followed by lawyer Wan Azliana Wan Adnan of Pejuang (849 votes), Naganathan Pillai of Warisan (575 votes) and Mohd Zulkifli Abdul Fattah of Parti Rakyat Malaysia (137 votes).

Three other Independent candidates were lawyer Siti Zabedah Kasim or better known as Siti Kasim, social media influencer Nur Fathiah Syazwana Shaharudin @ Cleo and Too Cheng Huat, who also lost their deposits in their attempt to seize the Batu seat.

In the results which were announced by returning officer Khairul Azmir Ahmad at 3.35 am, Siti Kasim got 653 votes while Nur Fathiah collected 628 votes and Too with 112 votes.

Meanwhile, Prabakaran told reporters that he was grateful to the voters in the Batu parliamentary constituency who chose him.

"I will meet my constituents face-to-face to thank them for their support. I admit that I was a little nervous knowing that I would be contesting against nine other candidates who are quite intimidating, but I am sure the voters in this area know who actually goes down to the ground to meet them," he said.

In GE14, Prabakaran contested as an Independent candidate supported by PKR, defeating Dr Dominic Lau Hoe Chai (BN-Gerakan), Azhar Yahya (PAS) and another Independent candidate Datuk V. M. Panjamothy, with a majority of 24,438 votes.

-- BERNAMA