Court strikes out election petitions for Pulai, Tebrau and Puteri Wangsa

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JOHOR BAHARU: The Election Court here struck out with costs the petitions to declare the 13th general election results for the Pulai and Tebrau parliamentary seats and also the Puteri Wangsa state seat null and void.

Judge Dr Prasad Sandosham Abraham struck out all three petitions on grounds that all the petitioners failed to comply with the regulations on the filing of the petitions.

He also said the contents of the petitions were too general.

On the petition for Pulai which was filed by PAS, Abraham ordered the petitioner to pay cost of RM10,000 to Pulai MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, who was named the first respondent.

Nur Jazlan defeated PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub with a 3,226-vote majority in the contest.

The judge also ordered costs of RM25,000 each to be paid to the Returning Officer (RO) for Pulai and the Election Commission (EC), who were named the second and third respondent, respectively.

For the petition on Tebrau, filed by PKR, Abraham ordered costs of RM10,000 to be paid to Tebrau MP Khoo Soo Seang and RM25,000 each to the EC and the RO for Tebrau.

The court also ordered the petitioner for the Puteri Wangsa state seat, which was filed by Barisan Nasional (BN), to pay cost of RM10,000 to Puteri Wangsa state assemblyman Abdullah Hussin of PAS and RM25,000 each to the RO for the state constituency and the EC.

Abdullah won the seat in a three-cornered fight against BN’s M Soorianarayanan and an independent candidate.

Meanwhile, in Batu Gajah, the Election Court struck out with costs petitions filed by PAS for the Manong and Pasir Panjang state seats which were won by BN in the 13th general election.

Judge Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim struck out the petitions on grounds that the petitioners failed to comply with Regulation 9 and 34 of the Election Petition Rules 1954.

For the Manong seat, the petitioner, PAS candidate Jamil Dzulkarnain, was ordered to pay costs of RM40,000 each to Manong assemblyman Mohamad Kamil Shafie and the EC, which was named the second respondent.

The petitioner for Pasir Panjang, Shamsul Sakri Che Din, a voter, was ordered to pay RM40,000 each to all the three respondents, namely Pasir Panjang assemblyman Rashidi Ibrahim, the RO for Pasir Panjang and the EC.

Meanwhile, the court set Aug 2 to decide on preliminary objections for another Pasir Panjang petition filed by a voter, Hamidun Zakaria.

In the 13th general election, Mohd Kamil defeated Jamil with a 231-vote majority to win the Manong state seat, while Rashidi won the Pasir Panjang state seat against PAS’ Rohawati Abidin and independent candidate, S Vijayan, with a majority of 304 votes. — Bernama