The university also has a campus here with three schools — School of Medical Sciences, School of Dentistry and School of Health Sciences.

Besides intellectual development, there is also a royal aura, as the Kelantan Sultan has a palace here.

To ordinary Kelantanese, Kubang Kerian is also synonymous with Pondok Pasir Tumboh, the largest madrasah or community religious school in the state with about 1,000 students.

This special status of the constituency is further enhanced by the eminence of its past MPs.

They included Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, popularly known as Mat Sabu, who won the seat after its creation in 1995 on a PAS ticket.

He was succeeded by Husam Musa in 1999. Husam then gave way to Salahuddin Ayub who held it for two terms in 2004 and 2008.

Both Husam and Salahuddin have also left PAS for Amanah where they now hold the posts of vice president and deputy president, respectively.

The current MP is Ahmad Baihaki Atiqullah of PAS.

Amanah is part of the national opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH) which includes PKR, DAP and PPBM.

Another special feature of the Kubang Kerian seat is that Mat Sabu, Husam and Salahuddin were all “imported candidates” and did not count the area as their home town.

The tradition of a candidate “parachuted” from outside the constituency could happen again as PAS was speculated to be considering its deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man for Kubang Kerian in the coming polls.

Kubang Kerian PAS division chief Abdul Rahman Yunus has not rejected the idea of fielding Tuan Ibrahim who is from Pahang.

He said the past selection of Mat Sabu, Husam and Salahuddin showed that “outside candidates” were a normal practice in Kubang Kerian.

“We leave the decision to the leadership. We will accept any candidate who can win,” he told FMT.

“Our machinery is ready to defend our excellent record in Kubang Kerian under PAS.”

Rahman acknowledged that the new political environment would have a “slight effect” on the party’s campaign, with the emergence of Amanah and PH.

Husam, once a protégé of the late PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, currently holds the Salor state seat in Kubang Kerian and is expected to lead the PH challenge against PAS in Kelantan.

Umno, too, is eyeing Kubang Kerian which it has never been successful in wresting from PAS.

Its Kubang Kerian division chief, Muhammad Abdul Ghani, admitted that it would be difficult to topple PAS from its stronghold.

He said the split in PAS, which created Amanah, has opened the door for a possible upset win but he acknowledged that Umno was also divided after a group broke away to form PPBM.

“We admit Umno is also divided but our problem is not as serious as in the opposition,” he told FMT.

PH will field a candidate from Amanah in Kubang Kerian but viewed itself as the “underdog” because the constituency is a PAS stronghold.

There is also the likelihood of a 3-cornered contest involving Umno as well that will divide the opposition votes.

“We are focusing our campaign on wooing the ‘silent’ voters,” said PH Kubang Kerian chairman Abdul Halim Yusof.

“Many are silent on who they would vote for as they may not wish to cause quarrels with neighbours and members of the local mosque congregation who hold different political views.”

In 2013, Ahmad Baihaki won Kubang Kerian with a huge majority of 16,741 votes over BN candidate Anuar Safian.

PAS also swept all three state seats within the federal constituency, all with comfortable majorities.