KOTA KINABALU: A Barisan Nasional (BN) agent at Saluran (polling stream) 1 Sekolah Kebangsaan Indrason Laut Kudat for the Kota Marudu seat in the 13th general election, Jamandul Mogirun, told the Election Court here yesterday that the polling station head or Ketua Tempat Mengundi (KTM) there prepared Form 14 and handed the form to all the agents to be signed.
Jamandul, 33, said he, himself, checked the contents of the form and, satisfied with it, signed it.
The KTM also asked us (agents) if we had any objection, but no objection was raised by any of us, he added.
He was testifying on the eighth day hearing of a petition seeking to nullify the GE13 result for the Kota Marudu seat which was won by Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili of BN.
The petition is being heard before Judge Datuk Yew Jen Kee.
Another BN agent, Tam Tian Man, from Saluran 3 Sekolah Kebangsaan Matunggong, said he did not sign the form because he was satisfied with the number of votes obtained by candidates.
“After the votes had been counted, the KTM announced the number of votes obtained by each candidate.
“ I recorded the total number of votes obtained by each of the candidates, as announced by the KTM, on Form 14 for the Matunggong state seat.
“Since I had obtained the vote tally for each of the candidates, I left and did not sign Form 14,” he added.
Tam, 47, said he was at the vote counting centre until counting process was completed and did not know whether the agent from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) did not receive the form.
“It was not that Form 14 was given, but after the ballot counting process was over, we already knew the result,” he added.
Two other BN agents, Johani Sovoli, 40, from Saluran 1 Sekolah Kebangsaan Matunggong and Sawad Gampong, 41, from Saluran 1 Dewan Serbaguna Tegaroh, also claimed that all the agents did not raise any objection, including on the number of votes obtained by their candidate.
In the petition, Mahap named Ongkili as the first respondent and RO Lovita Koisun and the Election Commission (EC) as the second and third respondents, respectively.
On Aug 13, Yew had ruled that allegations of corruption against Ongkili pertaining to the contest be dropped from the petition but maintained Ongkili as the first respondent by virtue of him being the winner. In his petition, Mahap had claimed that copies of Form 14 were not given to PKR’s polling agents.
Ongkili won with majority of 842 votes after garnering 15,168 votes in a four-cornered fight. Mahap obtained 14,326 votes, Star candidate Majamis Timbong (2,228 votes) while Yuntau alias Kuntau Kolod (SAPP) only managed 444 votes. A total of 911 votes were rejected. Ongkili was present at yesterday’s proceeding.
The hearing continues today. — Bernama