KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — Umno Wanita chief Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil dismissed talks that she will be running for the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat this May 9.

According to a New Straits Times online report, Shahrizat said Barisan Nasional’s top leadership has not given any official instructions for her to contest in the upcoming polls.

The former woman, family and community development minister said the rumours were just a political speculation in the heat of the electoral season.

"(It is just a) speculation. (I am) serious. I will inform (the media on the matter) upon receiving news about it (confirmation from the top leadership),” she reportedly responded in a text reply to the English daily.

The Bandar Tun Razak seat has been traditionally reserved by BN for MCA.

In the 12th general election, MCA lost the seat to then-PKR candidate Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim who polled an 11,832 vote-majority.

Talks about Shahrizat’s possibly being fielded in Bandar Tun Razak stemmed from a report by a news portal claiming that the matter has been verified by several sources including Umno’s top leadership.

Shahrizat is no novice in politics. She has not stopped since her 1995 victory against the late former lord president Tun Mohamed Salleh Abas from Semangat 46 for the parliamentary seat Lembah Pantai, with a vote-majority of 13,361.

In 1999, she defeated PKR candidate Zainur Zakaria with a vote-majority of 1,417.

In 2004, Shahrizat defended Lembah Pantai with her biggest vote-majority yet at 15,288, defeating Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s candidate Dr Sanusi Osman who had contested under PKR’s ticket.

However, in 2008, Shahrizat lost to PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar with a vote-majority of 2,895 and she was not fielded as a candidate in the 2013 polls.