KOTA BHARU: The Kelantan State Legislative Assembly yesterday voted the Nenggiri seat vacant and disqualified the assemblyman Datuk Mat Yusoff Abdul Ghani who had been declared a bankrupt.
Thirty-two assemblymen voted for the motion tabled by Datuk Dr Fadzli Hassan (PAS-Temangan), who is chairman of the Human Development, Education and Higher Education Committee, while nine abstained and three were absent. The assembly has 45 seats.
None of the assemblymen stood up to debate the motion when Speaker Datuk Abdullah Ya’kub requested them to do so before the vote was taken.
On June 1, Abdullah announced the vacancy at a press conference after the assembly was notified by the Selangor branch of the Department of Insolvency on May 28 that Mat Yusoff of Umno-Barisan Nasional had been declared a bankrupt.
On June 7, Mat Yusoff alleged that Abdullah had breached the State Constitution by declaring the seat vacant without the consent of the assembly.
In the 13th general election in 2013, Mat Yusoff defeated Mohammad Azihan Che Seman of PKR and independent Abdul Aziz Mohamed to win the seat by a majority of 3,849 votes.— Bernama