KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — Penang DAP chairman Chow Kon Yeow has moved to quell rumours of a "puppeteer” operating behind the scenes, secretly deciding who the candidates for the upcoming state polls should be.

Chow told reporters in Penang that the selections were all done by a five-person committee.

"We (Penang DAP) accepted the decision (made by the committee),” Chow was quoted as saying by Free Malaysia Today.

DAP announced 19 candidates, including seven new faces, who will be contesting in the Penang state polls next month, with caretaker deputy chief minister II P. Ramasamy among the notable names dropped.

DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, who made the announcement, said Chow and DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng will defend their seats in Padang Kota and Air Putih respectively.

Elaborating, Chow, who is state PH chairman, said there are bound to be changes in terms of candidacy, something that is normal and dynamic in every election.

He said there is no such thing as candidates belonging to certain camps in DAP, as claimed by some quarters, because all candidates were picked by the party leadership.

This comes after former Bagan Dalam MP M. Satees claimed there was a hidden hand that he likened to an "emperor” who was choosing who should and shouldn’t be nominated.

He said he was dropped because he was not in said emperor’s group and today decided to run as an independent in Bagan Dalam instead.