[4] His nomination in the by-election was marred by allegations of cronyism and nepotism arising from Shahidan who was then the Menteri Besar of Perlis.
The defeat of Ismail also created history as BN lost a Perlis federal seat for the first time.
He won the seat and was elected into Parliament as the Arau MP after narrowly defeating Haron Din of PAS by a majority of only 300 votes.
Ismail won the seat and was elected into the Perlis State Legislative Assembly as the Tambun Tulang MLA for the first term after defeating the Azhar Ameir of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) by a majority of 2,481 votes.
He defended the seat and was reelected as the Tambun Tulang MLA for the second term after defeating the Maton Din of PH and Abu Bakar Ali of Gagasan Sejahtera (GS) by a majority of 1,180 votes.
He lost the seat and was not reelected as the Tambun Tulang MLA for the third term after losing to Wan Zikri Afthar Ishak of PN by a minority of 2,485 votes.