KOTA BHARU: Dropped incumbent members of Parliament (MPs) from Barisan Nasional (BN) Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim and Datuk Seri Ismail Abdul Muttalib, have not yet joined PAS or any Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) component party despite the fact that they are defending their respective Arau and Maran seats on PN’s ticket in the 15th General Election (GE15).

PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan said the election regulations did not compel any candidate to be a member of a party to be eligible to contest.

So far, they (Shahidan and Ismail) have not yet joined PAS (as registered members). Even, the election regulations do not require a candidate to be a member of a party.

“PAS allows them to use its logo so that they can contest,” he said at the Kelantan PN’s press conference here today.

Meanwhile, Takiyuddin, who is contesting for the Kota Bharu seat, said that the membership of Kuala Nerus incumbent MP Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali and Tumpat incumbent MP Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Naw had been automatically terminated after they chose to contest under Barisan Nasional’s (BN) ticket in the GE15.

He said the automatic termination of membership is stated in Clause 15 (1c) of the party constitution.

“So any PAS member who declares that they are quitting the party or joining another party is deemed to have ceased from being PAS member and need not be sacked anymore. We only need to notify them,” he said.

-- BERNAMA