MIC president S Samy Vellu today rebuffed claims that his choice of a wrong candidate was the reason for the party's defeat in the Bukit Selambau by-election yesterday.

He attributed the defeat to various other reasons, including the present sentiments on the ground in Bukit Selambau.

bukit selambau by election samy vellu ceramah 010409 05He also said that he was confident before yesterday of a victory for the party's candidate S Ganesan based on the feedback he had received from the voters there.

"In our campaigns, about 30 percent of the voters said they would be voting for Ganesan.

"But I don't know how they changed their mind in the last minute and gave their votes to our opponent," he told reporters this morning.

He had earlier met Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in Putrajaya to discuss the impending cabinet reshuffle.

Samy Vellu, who spent more than 24 days in Bukit Selambau for campaigning, however did not elaborate on the other reasons.

He said the party would be conducting a post-mortem to examine the reasons for the defeat.

Support has increased

Earlier, Samy Vellu in a statement said that the party would accept the verdict of the people.

"We are disappointed but we accept the verdict," he said.

He also said that he was certain that the party has increased the Indian support in Bukit Selambau.

Samy Vellu added that the party would continue to work hard to regain the confidence of the people.

bukit selambau s ganesan jogging campaign 300309 03In the by-election Ganesan (left in photo) lost to PKR's S Manikumar with a 2,403 vote majority.

The PKR man obtained 12,642 votes as opposed to Ganesan's 10,229 votes.

All the 13 independent candidates, who also contested, lost their RM5,000 deposits.

Manikumar's victory margin was higher by 40 votes than that achieved by V Arumugam in the 2008 general election.

Arumugam stood as an independent and defeated another MIC candidate S Krishnan. He later joined PKR and was made a state exco. He resigned in February, paving way for the by-election.

Manikumar's victory has also propelled him to be a state exco. He will be sworn in as one next week.

Exco post an inducement for voters

MIC Youth wing advisor S Vell Paari meanwhile attributed Manikumar's victory to the promise of the exco post by the PAS-led state government.

bukit selambau by election pkr candidate s manikumar 020409"The offer would have been at the back of the mind of the voters, especially the Indian voters - that Manikumar (photo) will be made a state exco while Ganesan, even if he won, will only be an opposition state representative," he told Malaysiakini.

He also said that the independent voters too have taken away some votes away from Ganesan.

"It was a very close fight and we could have won it if we had taken all the votes garnered by the independents.

"I think we also actually made inroads in winning back some of the Indian votes which we lost in 2008," he added.

He said that the party's Youth wing will continue to work for the people in the constituency.