He said the party has qualified candidates and has shortlisted potential contenders. The necessary evaluations had been carried out by BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Perak BN chief Saarani Mohamad.

“We have started assessing the qualified candidates, and I can say that BN has no issues in finding a suitable candidate because we have several eligible contenders for the Ayer Kuning seat,” he told reporters here tonight.

Zambry said the chosen candidate would be someone capable, accepted by the community and able to contribute to society, similar to the late Ishsam Shahruddin of Umno, who won the seat on a BN ticket in the 2022 general election.

Ishsam, 59, died of a heart attack in February while taking part in a football tournament in Penang.

Zambry said no one was excluded from consideration as a candidate, “whether women, youth or adult”.

He said: “We are considering all categories, including women, youth, and division committee members, because we want a candidate who can truly contribute, just like the previous candidate who demonstrated effective performance.”

In the 2022 election, Ishsam won with a 2,213-vote majority, securing 9,088 votes in a five-cornered contest. He defeated candidates from Pakatan Harapan (6,875 votes), Perikatan Nasional (6,812), Parti Pejuang Tanahair (105) and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (586).

Polling will be held on April 26. The constituency comprises 31,897 voters.