KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 — With incumbent Putrajaya MP Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor facing criminal charges in court, Mingguan Malaysia reported today that Umno is mulling other candidates to contest the administrative capital seat in the 15th general election (GE15).

Among the names the Sunday edition of Utusan Malaysia listed were Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin, Youth chief Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz, and also the son of Tengku Adnan himself.

Quoting anonymous sources, the paper said Khairy, who is the minister of science, technology and innovation, is speculated to contest there since Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan may take his seat now in Rembau, Negri Sembilan.

Khairy had won the seat by a 4,364-vote majority, and Mohamad had won the Rantau state seat unopposed before his result was nullified.

The paper also said that Asyraf Wajdi, formerly deputy minister in charge of religious affairs, may also move away from Pasir Puteh federal seat in Kelantan.

He had contested the seat in 2018, and lost to PAS’ Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh by a 1,360-vote majority.

PAS is expected to keep the seat in GE15 due to Umno’s cooperation with the Islamist party in Muafakat Nasional.

Meanwhile, Tun Faisal, formerly a strategic communications director in the now-defunct propaganda agency Special Affairs Department (Jasa), is the Putrajaya Umno deputy division chief.

He has been with the division since 2004 and was appointed to his current post in 2018, but is now mostly known as the press secretary and loyalist to Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

The report said Tengku Adnan, popularly know as Ku Nan, who has never been defeated since the Putrajaya constituency was created, is expected to vacate the seat in the next election cycle as he is facing a possible 12-month jail sentence and a fine over a graft conviction.

It also quoted a source saying Ku Nan intends to defend his legacy by propping up his son, Tengku Iqbal Munawwir Mansor, who is also the Putrajaya Umno Youth chief, to contest in his place.

Tengku Iqbal recently came under public spotlight after Ku Nan held a grand drive-thru wedding for him in Putrajaya attended by thousands amid a recovery control movement order.

The wedding came a day before Ku Nan was found guilty by the High Court on December 21 on a charge of accepting a RM2 million bribe from a businessman in his capacity as former Federal Territories minister.

Just yesterday, the police issued a compound to Tengku Iqbal’s lead wing for organising a free frozen chicken drive-through give-away event which drew hundreds of locals to converge amid the movement control order, as it was held without the approval of the authorities.