GEORGE TOWN, May 15 — In the first leg of his campaign for Bukit Gelugor, Ramkarpal Singh Deo, famously referred to by constituents as simply “Karpal’s son”, has found himself at the center of allegations of nepotism.

But the lawyer insisted he was not chosen to take his late father’s place just because he is “Karpal’s son” but said he has the credentials, and ability, to be the next Bukit Gelugor MP.

"We've already explained many times why it is not nepotism so all I can ask from the voters is to give me a chance to prove myself as an individual," he told a press conference at the DAP Bukit Gelugor by-election operations centre here.

In the first few days of campaigning, DAP leaders and Ramkarpal himself have had to explain during nightly ceramahs that Ramkarpal was not chosen because of nepotism but because he was the best candidate to fill the seat.

Ramkarpal explained he was chosen because of the many years of experience he had in helping his late father in preparing questions for Parliament.

"I have helped my father until late at night sometimes to prepare questions for parliament and I constantly discussed issues to be brought up in parliament with my father in the years I've worked closely by his side so it was felt that I was the best candidate to carry on with his work," he had said in the nightly ceramahs held all over the constituency.

Ramkarpal is going up against three opponents, a Parti Cinta Malaysia candidate, Huan Cheng Guan, and two independents in the May 25 by-election.

Barisan Nasional (BN) component party MCA had decided against contesting the seat.

The Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat was vacated after the late MP Karpal Singh was killed in a road accident on April 17.

Though political observers have said the by-election will be a sure win for DAP, Ramkarpal said he will not be taking anything for granted.

"We are confident of retaining the seat but we do not want to be over-confident," he said.

As for the responses he got from voters so far in his walkabouts around the constituency, especially in hardcore BN areas such as Taman Tun Sardon, he said it is hard to gauge for now.

"We will just take every day as it comes," he said.