IPOH, Dec 29 ― The DAP is expected to announce its candidate for the Cameron Highlands parliamentary by-election in about 10 days, party vice-chairman M. Kulasegaran said today.

He said DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng would make the announcement after discussions with the relevant quarters.

"Cameron Highlands is traditionally a DAP seat, as determined by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) leadership,” he said, adding that he and DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang would make the first of a series of visits tomorrow to the Orang Asli settlement in Ringlet.

"We hope the people of Cameron Highlands will give us strong support for PH to take the seat,” Kula  Segaran, who is the Human Resource Minister and MP for Ipoh Barat, told reporters after distributing 2019 calendars to the public at the Kampung Tawas market here.

M. Manogaran of the DAP won a court order nullifying the election of Datuk C. Sivarraajh of the MIC for the seat in the 14th general election after the Election Court established that there had been vote-buying by the Barisan Nasional during the election campaign. Manogaran was one of the five candidates who contested the seat in GE14.

Sivarraajh did not appeal the Election Court order. Yesterday, the Election Commission announced that Sivarraajh, an MIC vice-president, is ineligible to contest the by-election and cannot vote or be registered as a voter for five years from December 13, 2018.

In GE14, Sivarraajh secured 10,307 votes to win by a majority of 597 votes. Manogaran polled 9,710 votes; Wan Mahadir Wan Mahmud of PAS, 3,587 votes; B. Suresh Kumar of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), 680 votes and Mohd Tahir Kassim of Berjasa, 81 votes.

Nomination for the Cameron Highlands by-election is on January 12, early voting on January 22 and polling on January 26. ― Bernama