The two were the only candidates who submitted their forms when nominations at the SMK Seri Perak here closed at 10am.

Mah, 53, submitted his nomination paper at 9.03am, followed by Dyana, 26, at 9.05am.

Mah was dressed in the signature dark blue BN shirt and vest, flanked by Umno deputy president and campaign manager Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, and Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir.

In contrast, Dyana who wore a sky-blue baju kurung, was accompanied by a huge entourage of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers and its women leaders, including Selangor state assembly speaker Hannah Yeoh and DAP vice-chairman Teresa Kok.

Jalan Changkat Jong here was held in a gridlock temporarily this morning as thousands of PR and BN supporters escorted their respective candidates to the nomination centre.

They later converged on a muddy field opposite the school, separated from each other by a strip of land guarded by a line of police from the Light Strike Force unit.

The Malay Mail Online understands that there were also hundreds of students sitting for their mid-term examinations in the school during the nomination period this morning.

The PR group were dominated by older DAP supporters in white, holding up pennants with the DAP rocket symbol and banners bearing Dyana’s face, but PAS and PKR flags were scarce.

Meanwhile, BN supporters in blue were predominantly young, and included the Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma) and BN-linked youth volunteer groups.

In a bid to shed its image as a predominantly Chinese party, DAP picked Dyana, a young Malay woman, as its candidate for the by-election in Teluk Intan, a Chinese-majority constituency.

Dyana, 26, was formerly the political aide of DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.

Gerakan president Mah won the Teluk Intan seat in 1999 and 2004, but lost to DAP’s M. Manogaran in 2008 with a 1,470-vote majority.

DAP’s Seah Leong Peng had defeated Mah last year with a 7,313 majority before succumbing to advanced bladder cancer on May 1.

Seah’s death triggered the by-election, which is scheduled for May 31 while early voting will be held on May 27.

The voter base in Teluk Intan is 42 per cent Chinese, 38 per cent Malay and 19 per cent Indian, making a total of 60,349 registered voters.