SEREMBAN, July 28 — Barisan Nasional (BN) candidates contesting in the six state elections are reminded to stop the practice of handouts during the campaign period.

BN deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said it is to avoid ruining the reputation of any candidate which could negatively affect the campaign and influence the party’s results to obtain a dominant position in the state polls.

"I have reminded our candidates to look after themselves in the 14-day period (campaign) and to forget about acts of charity for the time being.

"This to ensure such practice would not be made an issue or become ammunition by anybody to shoot and question the election results and taken to court, so to avoid such a situation, we refrain ourselves first,” he said.

He told reporters after handing out BN candidate appointment letters for the Negeri Sembilan state election at Wisma Umno here today.

In this regard, the BN election director said the party’s manifesto is being evaluated by the central leadership and will be launched simultaneously with the manifestos of coalition parties in the unity government with the theme Unity for Stability and Prosperity soon.

"We do not want states to have manifestos which are too ambitious as the state election has its limit...do not overpromise, we do not want to make all kinds of promises we cannot deliver,” he said.

Commenting on the 17 candidates who would be standing in the Negeri Sembilan state, Mohamad who is also fielded as the Rantau candidate said all candidates are competent and have clean background.

"We at the headquarters have made very stringent screening, all of them have passed with no issues which could be raised as weapons by people looking for trouble,” he said.

In the 14th General Election (GE14), Pakatan Harapan won 20 state assembly seats, namely 11 from DAP, six from PKR and three from Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), while 16 state assembly seats belonged to BN.

The Election Commission set the state polls in Selangor, Kedah, Penang, Kelantan, Terengganu and Negeri Sembilan to be held simultaneously with August 12 as voting day, while the candidate nomination date is July 29 and early voting is August 8. — Bernama