On Nomination Day, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat unexpectedly emerged as the anchor minister for East Coast GRC.

Heng, who is also Minister for Finance, moved from his Tampines GRC base, which he has contested since his political debut in 2011.

Heng was campaigning near Simei MRT with his team

Over the past few days, Heng had engaged in a punishing schedule daily, walking the ground in East Coast GRC in the mornings and evenings.

On July 3, Heng had a brief walkabout near Simei MRT, along with the rest of the East Coast GRC team.

The walkabout started around 7pm, at Block 243, Simei Street 5.

Heng and his team quickly proceeded to the area near Simei MRT, which was bustling with activity.

It is worth noting that this area of Simei is categorised under Changi-Simei, and is a stone's throw away from Heng's previous Tampines GRC.

Heng had a team of volunteers present with him, although it is hard to get an exact number, given how spread out they were (social distancing).

It appeared that Heng was more popular among the older folks, with many of them greeting him with an enthusiastic "Mr Heng", or "DPM Heng".

On the other hand, the younger members of the public were generally more confused (perhaps they haven't read the news yet) about Heng's presence in the area.

Social distancing was also the name of the game.

His volunteers were constantly ensuring that those taking pictures with Heng would abide by the necessary distancing measures, which sometimes made for awkward photographs.

While Heng was doing his walkabout, members of his new East Coast GRC team: Maliki Osman, Tan Kiat How, Cheryl Chan Wei Ling, and Jessica Tan Soon Neo were also doing their respective walkabouts.

A young girl, who was likely a volunteer with the PAP group, proudly displayed her bag, which lit up with the words "East Coast GRC", "Cheryl Chan" and the PAP logo respectively.

However, Heng commanded most of the attention during the walkabout, with sets of curious eyes following him wherever he went.

Heng took a group photo with his East Coast GRC team, holding up their polling cards and brandishing their PAP flags.

Meanwhile, staff members of the 7-11 branch, perhaps oblivious to what's going on, began shouting out ice-cream offers loudly while the photo taking session was taking place.

Heng soon left the area, a little over an hour after he first begun.

Polling Day is on July 10, less than a week from now.

Top image via Jason Fan.