CAMERON HIGHLANDS, Jan 12 — The by-election for the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat is likely to be a four-cornered fight pitting two parties and two independents.

Four people filed their candidacy at Dewan Gemilang in SMK Sultan Ahmad Shah here today when nominations opened at 9am.

They were Ramli Mohd Noor from Barisan Nasional (BN), M. Manogaran from Pakatan Harapan (PH), independent candidate Sallehudin Ab Talib, who is a senior lecturer in Institut Aminuddin Baki Genting Highland and another independent candidate Wong Seng Yee, who is a local farmer and activist.

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Returning officer Datuk Ishak Md Napis announced their names of the four candidates after the close of nominations at 10am.

The nomination kicks off official campaigning for the by-election that will go on until midnight on January 25. Polling will take place the next day.

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The cool and green farmlands of Cameron Highland was brightly dotted in red, white and blue — the colours of the outfits donned by the supporters of the different parties and candidates who marched separately to the nomination centre.

They had gathered at their respective division offices and along the streets near the nomination centre starting around 7.30am to show their support to the candidates.

The Cameron Highlands parliamentary constituency has a total of 32,009 registered voters, with 19,524 voters from the Tanah Rata state constituency while 12,485 is from Jelai state constituency.

Malays make up the majority voters, at about 33.5 per cent followed by ethnic Chinese at 29.48 per cent, Orang Asli at 21.56 per cent, ethnic Indians at 14.91 per cent and others at 0.55 per cent.

The by-election was called the Election Court annulled the GE14 results that saw BN’s Datuk C. Sivarraajh win in a five-cornered fight with 10,307 votes, beating out PH’s Manogaran who got 9,710 votes; Wan Mahadir Wan Mahmud of PAS (3,587 votes); Mohd Tahir Kassim of Berjasa (81 votes) and B. Suresh Kumar of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (680 votes).

Manogaran had filed a petition on June 4 last accusing Sivarraajh of flouting the General Elections Act 1954.

On December 28, the Election Commission announced that Sivarraajh was ineligible to contest the by-election.