Independent candidate Mohd Redzuan Isa has withdrawn from the race for the Bukit Selambau state seat today, just 24 hours before nominations.

Mohd Redzuan, who was formerly a PKR member and the personal assistant to Merbok PKR member of parliament Rashid Din, resigned from his positions on March 13 to contest as an independent.

He has earlier said that he could better champion the cause of the people as an elected representative. His decision to stand as an independent was due to his party PKR opting to back newcomer S Manikumar as the candidate.

However Mohd Redzuan today told reporters that after consultation with PKR chief Anwar Ibrahim, his friends and family, he has withdrawn from the by-election.

anwar bukit selambau pkr candidate manikumar 200309 09The 52-year-old small time businessman said he now backed Manikumar (photo), adding that the party new face was the 'best candidate' for all the people of Bukit Selambau.

He also rejected claims that he had been offered money to withdraw from the by-election, due on April 7.

According to Redzuan, his withdrawal was to provide the people with a better candidate who could fulfil Pakatan Rakyat's objective.

"Moreover, an independent candidate has no opportunity of winning the by-election this time around.

"We need a candidate who can represent the Indian community as well as the rest of the people," said Redzuan.

Asked whether he would rejoining be PKR, Redzuan said: "I am going to take sometime to rest... then I will consider the option. But as of now, I give my full support to Manikumar."

Redzuan added that he had made the announcement during last night's PKR rally in Sungai Lalang.

He expressed that he was not unhappy with the decision although he had already prepared campaign banners.

"Nowadays the voters are smart and they can make wise decision by themselves," he added.

Independent candidate has no chance

Kuala Kedah PKR MP Ahmad Kasim, who was also at the press conference, said that Redzuan had made a wise decision as "independent candidates had no chance of winning".

bukit selambau state seat kedah 110209Asked why he assumed independents did not stand a chance when V Arumugam, who had vacated the seat of Feb 8, had bagged it during the last general election as an independent, Ahmad said: "The political scenario then was different.

"On March 8, 2008, the situation was that everybody wanted to vote for any candidate but BN's... it is not the same today," said Ahmad.

As of now, there are 10 candidates who have each paid the RM8,000 deposit to contest in the by-election.

The 10 include nine independent candidates and BN's S Ganesan. However, PKR candidate S Manikumar will be submitting his deposit on nomination day tomorrow.

The candidates who have paid are former Kedah PPP Wanita chief L Sarala, businessman T Chandrarajan, contractor R Loganathan, businessman Tan Hock Huat, businessman Zaharan Abdullah, retired army personnel Mohd Fadzli Wahab, Major Anuar Abdul Hamid, A Jayagopal, and Husaini Yaacob.

Malaysiakini will be providing LIVE coverage of the nominations tomorrow beginning at 8.30am.