BN has not received any official application from MCA to exit the coalition, said its chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The Umno president said any decision taken by the core BN component would be respected.

"We hope whatever decision they take will be communicated to us for further action,” he said after chairing a meeting with BN senators in Kuala Lumpur today.

He was commenting on the resolution adopted by MCA at its annual general meeting which ended today that called for MCA to push for the dissolution of the coalition.

Umno and MCA founded the BN’s predecessor the Alliance before MIC joined it. The coalition was joined by other parties later and was renamed BN in 1973.

The BN lost in the 14th general election on May 9 to the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Both MCA and MIC received a severe drubbing in GE14.

On another matter, Ahmad Zahid said MIC would be given the chance to contest the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat if a by-election is held there.

On Friday, the Election Court nullified the GE14 result for the seat, which was won by an MIC candidate, on the grounds bribery was involved to induce voters to vote for him.

The candidate, MIC vice-president C Sivarraajh, has announced that he would be appealing the decision.

He had defeated DAP candidate M Manogaran and three other candidates in the contest.

Manogaran filed a petition with the Election Court to nullify the result and was successful.

- Bernama