KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has sued the Election Commission (EC) and two others for allegedly barring him from casting his vote in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election tomorrow.
He filed the originating summons at the High Court registry today through Messrs Daim & Gamany, and named the EC, its chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof and the Malaysian government as the first to third defendant.
The former Permatang Pauh member of parliament is seeking a declaration that he was entitled to vote in the by-election and in the next general election, under Article 119 of the Federal Constitution.
Anwar, 68, is also seeking other orders and costs.
In his affidavit in support, he claimed that on April 30, his lawyer sent a letter of demand to the EC and Abdul Aziz for a confirmation that he was allowed to vote in the by-election.
He claimed that the two defendants did not respond to the letter and therefore had denied him his right under Article 119 of the Federal Constitution.
He said he was already a registered voter in Permatang Pauh before his conviction by the Federal Court on Feb 10 and had voted in the constituency in the 13th general election two years ago.
Anwar is currently serving five years at the Sungai Buloh Prison after failing to obtain a royal pardon for sodomy.
The Federal Court had rejected his appeal and affirmed his conviction and sentence for the offence on his personal assistant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan on June 26, 2008.
One of Anwar’s lawyers, Latheefa Koya said the case would be a “test case”, as Article 119 of the constitution does provide for a prisoner to exercise his right to vote if he was already a registered voter before the conviction.
Meanwhile, the plaintiff’s fourth daughter Nurul Ilham and her husband Reza Mohd Rafie was also at the court premises today. -Bernama