The Election Commission has received official notification on the vacancies of parliamentary seats in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar from the Dewan Rakyat.

This means that by-elections will be held at the two constituencies in the upcoming months.

This comes after the demise of Plantation Industries and Commodities Deputy Minister Noriah Kasnon and Wan Muhammad Khairil Anuar Wan Ahmad in a helicopter crash on May 5. They are MPs for Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar respectively.

In a statement today, the EC said they would be holding a meeting this Friday to discuss related matters to the two by-elections.

The meeting, to be chaired by EC chief Mohd Hashim Abdullah, will discuss relevant dates like the nomination day, early polling and the polling day itself, among other things.

Hashim will be holding a press conference after the meeting.

It was earlier reported that the Selangor Umno has submitted seven names for the Sungai Besar seat.

Previously there had been speculation that BN might try to avoid a by-election in the Sungai Besar parliament seat by declaring the seat vacant after June 24.

Lawyer Mohamad Siddiq Azani had pointed out that the late incumbent of Sungai Besar from Umno only won with a razor-thin 399-vote majority in the 2013 general election, so a by-election would be risky.

Meanwhile, Sungai Besar Umno division chief Jamal Md Yunos yesterday said he is not interested to contest in the Sungai Besar by-election but that it would be up to the party to decide.