JOHOR BARU, April 23 — Caretaker mentri besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin will be leading Barisan Nasional’s (BN) fight in Johor, contesting both federal and state seats in the upcoming 14th general election (GE14).

Johor Barisan Nasional (BN) has officially announced that Khaled will be contesting in the Pasir Gudang parliamentary and Permas state seat.

Mohamed Khaled, 59, is currently the incumbent Permas state assemblyman.

For the Pasir Gudang seat, he is expected to lock horns with Johor PKR chief Hassan Abdul Karim and PAS’ Ab Aziz Abdullah in a three-cornered contest.

On the Permas state seat, Khaled will challenge Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) strongman Datuk Che Zakaria Mohd Salleh and PAS’ Ab Aziz Abdullah, also in a three-cornered fight.

The announcement was made by Khaled as the state BN chairman, at the Johor Umno liaison headquarters in Jalan Yahya Awal here .

Khaled is the only BN candidate who will be contesting two seats among the 82 parliamentary and state seats in Johor.

This move was a departure from the normal BN convention of fielding one candidate each for either a federal or state seat.

The announcement also saw Umno contesting 16 parliamentary and 35 state seats; MCA eight parliamentary and 15 state seats; MIC one parliamentary and four state seats; and Gerakan one parliament and two state seats.

Johor BN will will field 37 new faces in five parliamentary and 32 state seats.