Ousted Perak Speaker V Sivakumar and six others were given the nod by the High Court today to challenge the decision of the Election Commission in not holding by-elections for three state seats in Perak.

sivakumar and teng chang khim forum at klscah 290509 03 Sivakumar, opposition assemblypersons Chen Fook Chye, Tai Sing Ng and A Sivanesan and three voters -- Ahmad Sabry Wahab (Behrang), Abdul Latif Ariffin (Changkat Jering) and Foo Hon Wai (Jelapang) - were granted leave to initiate a judicial review application in a bid to quash the EC's decision in not declaring vacant the Behrang, Changkat Jering and Jelapang state seats following the decision of the three assemblypersons to be independent members of the state assembly.

Following today's decision, the applicants' counsel, Ranjit Singh, said they would have to file the judicial review application in which the court would later set a date to hear the matter.

Justice Lau Bee Lan made the decision in chambers after dismissing a preliminary objection from the Attorney-General Chambers that the applicants have no locus standi (legal standing) to challenge the EC's decision.

Instead, she ruled that Sivakumar and the six others have the locus standi to do so (challenge the EC's decision).

Lau also did not accept the Attorney-General's Chambers' argument that the matter was academic following the Federal Court's decision on April 9 that the EC, and not the speaker, was the rightful entity to declare electoral seats vacant.

The applicants initiated the suit against the EC and the assemblypersons, Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang), Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu (Changkat Jering) and Hee

Yit Foong (Jelapang).

Jamaluddin and Osman won their seats on PKR tickets and Hee, under the DAP banner, in the general election last year. They left their parties and pledged support for the Barisan Nasional, leading to the collapse of the PAS-PKR-DAP coalition government in Perak led by Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin of PAS as the menteri besar.

EC doubted the resignations

On Feb 3 this year, Sivakumar notified the EC that the three seats were vacant after purportedly receiving the resignation letters of the trio.

The EC, however, doubted that they had indeed resigned, and did not hold by-elections in those constituencies.

In their leave application, which was filed on March 10, Sivakumar and the six sought a declaration that the Behrang, Changkat Jering and Jelapang seats became vacant following the resignation of Jamaluddin, Osman and Hee, and an injunction to stop them from acting and carrying out the functions and duties of assemblypersons.

They are also seeking a writ of "quo warranto" to compel the trio to show why they were still representatives of their constituencies and able to carry out the responsibilities, functions and duties of assemblypersons.

- Bernama