Court rules BN to retain three state seats in Perak
The election court has thrown out the election petition for the Hutan Melintang state seat in Perak brought by G Manivannan, PKR’s candidate in the 14th general election.
This came after Johor Bahru High Court judge Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah allowed the preliminary objection by BN Hutan Melintang state assemblyperson Khairuddin Tarmizi against the election petition...
BN-Umno retains all three state seats in Perak after an election court in Kuala Lumpur threw out the election petitions to quash the GE14 results for Hutan Melintang, Lubok Merbau and Changkat Jong seats.
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah allowed preliminary objections by three Umno assemblypersons against PKR and Bersatu candidates.
In his ruling, Justice Collin noted that the petitioners failed to provide a clear and complete ground in their petitions.
The petitioners were Pakatan Harapan candidates comprising PKR's Hutan Melintang candidate G Manivannan (above), Bersatu's Changkat Jong candidate Muhammad Faizul Mohamed Ismail and Lubok Merbau candidate Zulkarnine Hashim.
He added that they had no locus standi in the hearing as their petitions failed to comply with Section 32 and Section 34 of the Election Offences Act 1954.
Both sections of the act deal with the requirement for an election petition to be filed in court.
"The petition ought to be struck out," ruled the judge who read out his brief ground. They were ordered to pay RM10,000 in cost.
Justice Collin ruled and affirmed that Jurij Jalaludin, Mohd Azhar Jamaluddin and Khairuddin Tarmizi remain the assemblypersons for Lubok Merbau, Changkat Jong and Hutan Melintang, respectively.
The Umno representatives were represented by lawyer Mohd Hafarizam Harun while lawyer Adi Zulkarnain Zulkafli appeared for Manivannan.
Bersatu's candidates were represented by Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi, Nasrul Hadi Mat Saad and Saiful Ambar Abdullah Ambar.
Corrupt practices claim
The three state constituencies were won by BN with slim majorities ranging between 67 and 741 votes.
When met outside the courtroom, both Amir and Adi said they will get instructions from their clients on whether they will file an appeal against the court decision today.
"We accept the court's ruling," said Amir.
Bersatu filed a petition for Changkat Jong claiming that the Form 14 (official final tally of votes) for a few streams was not given to counting agents. While in Lubok Merbau, Bersatu was unhappy claiming the BN candidate held the office of profit.
In Hutan Melintang, the PKR's candidate alleged corrupt electoral practices and that the calculation of votes according to Form 14 did not reflect the reality.
