“In this by-election, we are not setting up our own operations room, we will be working in the Barisan Nasional operations room,” he told reporters at the MIC general assembly.

He said the party machinery would strive to secure a high number of votes for PH from the Indian community, which makes up over 17% of the Sungai Bakap electorate.

Election Commission records show that Sungai Bakap has 38,409 voters, of whom 59.36% are Malays, 22.54% Chinese, 17.39% Indians and 0.71% others.

The by-election is a straight fight between Joohari, a former director of the northern branch of Institut Aminuddin Baki, and Perikatan Nasional’s Abidin Ismail, a logistics executive and Nibong Tebal PAS vice-president.

The July 6 by-election was called following the death of assemblyman Nor Zamri Latiff of PAS on May 24.