KEPALA BATAS: UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican is facing an uphill battle in a straight fight against Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq of Perikatan Nasional (PN) for the Bertam seat in the state polls.

Election Commission returning officer Isma Wirda Yusof made the official announcement of the candidates at the nomination centre for the Bertam, Penaga and Pinang Tunggal seats at Dewan Millenium Kepala Batas here today.

Isma Wirda said the first nomination form was submitted by Khaliq Mehtab at 9.07 am, followed by Reezal Merican who is also the former housing and local government minister at 9.13 am.

Reezal Merican, the former Member of Parliament for Kepala Batas described the battle for the Bertam seat as an effort to redeem himself after losing the 15th General Election (GE15) for the Kepala Batas parliamentary seat, thus restoring the revival of Barisan Nasional.

He said the battle was also a crucial platform for BN to be part of the Penang State Government after 15 years.

"In this state election, we will see the formation of a new state government. We (BN) should be a strong partner in the state government. Insya-Allah, we will wrest back the Bertam seat," he said when met at the nomination centre.

Meanwhile, Khaliq Mehtab, who won the seat in the last election before it was ordered to be vacated following a court ruling early this year, admitted that he will face a tough fight against Reezal Merican.

However, he expressed confidence that his service as Bertam assemblyman for one term would help him garner votes.

"My opponent is a former minister, former Member of Parliament but I take this as a challenge for PN to work harder," he said.

In the 14th General Election, Khaliq Mehtab, who contested under the PH ticket, won the seat with a majority of 219 votes after garnering 6,485 votes, defeating Shariful Azhar Othman of BN, who obtained 6,268 votes and Mokhtar Ramli from PAS, who received 2,986 votes.

However, on Feb 24, 2020, Khaliq Mehtab withdrew his support for the PH state government in favour of Bersatu, under Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's leadership.

Meanwhile, incumbent Penaga assemblyman Mohd Yusni Mat Piah from PAS has been re-nominated to defend the seat against BN's Mohd Naim Salleh, while the Pinang Tunggal seat will witness a battle between Zainuddin Mohd from PKR and Bukhori Ghazali of PAS.

-- BERNAMA