SHAH ALAM, April 28 — Flag wars and cheerful banter from both sides of the political divide are the order of the day in Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya, as hundreds congregated outside the heavily guarded Dewan Besar Tanjung MBSAin Section 19 here.

In Shah Alam, Barisan Nasional’s (BN) candidate Datuk Azhari Shaari and Parti Amanah Negara incumbent MP Khalid Samad were dressed in traditional baju Melayu that matched their respective party colours of blue and orange respectively, as they stood with their sea of supporters here, waiting to enter the nomination centre.

Supporters from both sides seemed rather cheerful as they teased each other with remarks such as "Pengantin sudah datang!”(groom has arrived) as their individual kompang teams played energetic beats.

But the PAS supporters located some distance away from the other two parties were rather quiet as they marched with their hopeful MP hopeful MP hopeful Zuhdi Marzuki, chanting "Allahuakbar”.

Other candidates for Kota Anggerik state seats are Jumaeyah Masdi (BN) Mohd Najwan Halimi (PKR) and Ahmad Dusuki Abd Rani (PAS).

Datuk Ahmad Muadzam Shah Yaakop (BN), Rodziah Ismail (PKR) and Abdul Halim Omar (PAS) are slated to contest the Batu Tiga state seat.

In Petaling Jaya, Maria Chin Abdullah and Rajiv Rishyakaran, candidates for Pakatan Harapan (PH) for the Petaling Jaya and Bukit Gasing seats, gathered together with supporters ahead of the nomination.

As early as 7.30am, multiracial supporters of Maria and her fellow candidates under the federal opposition PH came, with many wearing light blue shirts with the PKR logo and the words "Undi Maria” (Vote Maria).

Others wore red clothes, the colour for DAP and PH. All PH parties will be contesting under the PKR logo for the 14th general elections (GE14).

The enthusiastic supporters were led in chants such as "Undi Maria”, "Undi Rajiv”, and later "Reformasi”, "Pakatan Harapan” and "Hidup Rakyat” as they marched to the nomination centre at the Dewan Sivik MBPJ here.

DAP’s Rajiv is expected to be nominated using a PKR ticket and will be defending the Bukit Gasing state seat, which he won in 2013 with a whopping majority of 15,842 majority.

Two PKR first-timers, Prof Shaharuddin Badaruddin and Syamsul Firdaus Mohamed Supri, who will be contesting the Seri Setia seat and Taman Medan seat also marched together with the PH supporters.

Outside the nomination centre, the groups of supporters from BN, PAS and PH were easily recognisable by the sea of flags of BN, PAS and PKR, and were kept separate by cordons of plastic barriers as policemen stood on guard.

The Petaling Jaya parliamentary seat with 140,920 registered voters encompasses the three state seats of Bukit Gasing, Seri Setia and Taman Medan that were all won by PH in the previous elections.

For the Damansara seat, representatives from DAP and MCA just entered the Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Puay Chai nomination centre to register their respective candidates.

Leading the opposition pact who arrived first at 8.45am was incumbent Damansara (formerly Petaling Jaya Utara) MP Tony Pua, accompanied by state seat representatives Elizabeth Wong(Bukit Lanjan), Lim Yi Wei(Kampung Tunku) and Jamaliah Jamaluddin(Bandar Utama).

Shortly after, MCA’s Ryan Ho Kwok Xheng arrived with his entourage of supporters.

Accompanying the 30-year-old first-timer was Tan Gim Tuan of Bukit Tunku, Syed Abdul Razak Syed Long al-Sagoff of Bukit Lanjan, and Bandar Utama candidate Ch’ng Soo Chau.

A large group of supporters from both sides were equipped with banners and flags while they chanted loudly their party and coalition slogans.

Independent politician Peter Chong, who is contesting the Bandar Utama seat was also present at the nomination centre.