We have not obtained the complete details of the results but from what we have heard a majority of the Indian voters of Hulu Selangor had cast their votes for BN. The Human Rights Party and Hindraf had stayed completely neutral in this by-election and yesterday’s result is entirely the people's decision. The people of Hulu Selangor have spoken.

Our political analyst Subramaniam Bharathy, at the outset of this by-election, had said that two clear conditions had to be met for PKR to win. They needed to field a credible Malay candidate and they needed to get endorsement from a strong Indian grassroots organisation like HRP for a clear win. PKR met one condition, but not the other. The results prove the veracity of that prediction.

Endorsement from HRP would have come had the leadership of PKR heeded HRP's request on the allocation of land to all the Tamil schools in Selangor that did not sit on their own land. PKR decided it was not worth the prize requested. That probably cost them this seat.

The 1,725 vote majority means a swing of 865 votes the other way and PKR’s Zaid Ibrahim would have won instead. This would have been more than achieved had P Uthayskumar gone in with the troops for one day. But PKR probably thought the price of that was too high.

PKR now needs to keep in mind they are not going to get to Putrajaya without paying the due price. That much is clear from these by-elections. The ball has been in PKR's court for some time now.

We definitely want to see Umno go, but not to be replaced by a clone.

The writer is national advisor, Hindraf/Human Rights Party.