Sungai Buloh, Gombak, Arau among GE15 hot seats

KUALA LUMPUR: Sungai Buloh, Gombak and Arau are considered to be among the hot seats that will draw the attention of the public and political observers during the 15th General Election.

Barisan Nasional (BN) is fielding Khairy Jamaluddin to capture the Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat, which is a stronghold of Pakatan Harapan (PH).

Khairy, 46, is being challenged by Pakatan Harapan's (PH) Datuk R. Ramanan in PKR's effort to retain the seat for four consecutive times, and Perikatan Nasional's (PN) Mohd Ghazali Md Hamin from PAS.

The other contenders are Mohd Akmal Mohd Yusoff of Pejuang, Parti Rakyat Malaysia's (PRM) Ahmad Jufliz Faiza and two independent candidates, Nurhaslinda Basri and Syed Abdul Razak Syed Long Alsagoff.

In GE14, R. Sivarasa of PKR won the seat with a majority of 26,634 votes.

The fight between mentor and protege in Gombak sees incumbent Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali (PN-Bersatu) up against Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari who represents PH.

Also contesting against Mohamed Azmin are Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin (BN-UMNO), Datuk Dr Aziz Jamaludin Mhd Tahir (Pejuang-Putra) and Zulkifli Ahmad (Independent).

Despite the change in political platform, Mohamed Azmin expressed confidence in defending the seat and will continue with the development plan in Gombak.

In the last general election, Mohamed Azmin, who contested on a PKR ticket, won the Gombak seat with a majority of 48,721 votes in a three-cornered contest involving BN and PAS.

Also in the spotlight is the debut appearance of Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz in the political arena as a BN candidate to contest the Kuala Selangor parliamentary seat.

Tengku Zafrul is opposed by former health minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad of PKR (PH), who is also Kuala Selangor incumbent MP; Mohd Noor Mohd Shahar (PN-PAS) and Mohd Shaid Rosli (GTA-Pejuang).

In GE14, Dr Dzulkefly won the seat with a majority of 8,498 votes.

The Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat will also be the focus during GE15 where the incumbent Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar will be challenged by PH 'heavyweight' PKR Advisory Council Chairman who is also Pandan incumbent MP, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

The other challenger for the seat is Datuk Chew Yin Keen (BN-MCA).

For the first time, since the seat was contested in 2004, the Putrajaya parliamentary constituency will see a six-cornered fight between BN, PN, PH, Pejuang and two independent candidates.

The six candidates are Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (BN-UMNO), Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin (PN-Bersatu), Dr Noraishah Mydin Abdul Aziz (PH-PKR), Datuk Mohd Rosli Ramli (Pejuang) as well as two independent candidates namely Lim Fice Bee and Samsudin Mohamad Fauzi.

Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim who had been dropped as candidate by BN in this election, is facing Datuk Rozabil Abd Rahman (BN-UMNO) and Fathin Amelina Fazlie (PH-PKR) in his quest to defend the Arau parliamentary seat in Perlis on a PN ticket.

The Election Commission (EC) has set Nov 19 as polling day for GE15. The early voting is on Nov 15.

-- BERNAMA