KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here yesterday struck out the election petition filed by Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, the defeated candidate in the Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election.
TRIUMPHANT: Justice Syed Faisal Syed Abdullah (second right) raising Kamalanathan’s (second left) hand after court’s decision that the result of Hulu Selangor election is valid. — Bernama photo
Justice Datuk Azahar Mohamed ruled that the petition was ‘defective’ and declared Barisan Nasional’s P Kamalanathan as the lawfully elected member of parliament in the by-election on April 25.
Azahar said the petition was defective because it lacked material facts.
Zaid filed the petition on May 24, naming Kamalanathan, Returning Officer Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan and the Election Commission as respondents.
The Federal Territory Parti Keadilan Rakyat chief, who lost by a 1,725-vote margin to Kamalanathan, wanted the court to declare the election result null and void, alleging that corrupt practices had taken place during the poll in the form of bribery and promises to the voters.
Azahar said that the petition did not specifically identify the recipients of the alleged bribes.
“The petitioner has failed to state the facts and particulars to show in the election petition how the alleged general bribery has so extensively prevailed that it is reasonably supposed to have affected the result of the by-election,” he said.
Azahar said the identity of the person was ambiguous because it was stated generally as ‘parliamentary electors’ which, he said, signified that “the petitioner himself did not know at the time of the filing of this petition as to the identity of the person.”
It therefore rendered the petition defective and invalid, he said.
In allowing P Kamalanathan’s application to strike out the petition, Azahar also said that the charge as claimed in the petition was ‘akin to casting the net wide in the hope it might strike with either one’.
Met by reporters outside the court, Kamalanathan, who was pleased with the decision, said he could now proclaimed that he was the Hulu Selangor MP.
“We always strive for the best. I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue my struggle,” he said.
Kamalanathan was represented by Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin while Zaid was by Malik Imtiaz Sarwar. — Bernama