KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia yesterday rejected a motion by Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) to review the outcome of the bloc voting on the Supply Bill 2018 at the committee level for the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry (KPDNKK) on Nov 20.
Pandikar Amin said he was rejecting the motion because the voting process was carried out in accordance to the Standing Orders of the Dewan Rakyat and thus the outcome was valid.
He said the matter was deliberated after receiving a complaint letter from Gobind dated Nov 22, and he found that Gobind’s claims that the number of votes received by the opposition bloc was 52 was inaccurate.
He said his checks found that G. Manivannan (PKR-Kapar) who was the proposer for the bloc voting and also the person responsible for counting the ballots for the opposition had failed to count the vote by Julian Tan Kok Ping (DAP-Stampin).
This resulted in the opposition bloc obtaining only 51 votes while the backbenchers secured 52 votes, he said when chairing the Dewan Rakyat session yesterday afternoon.
He added that he had also taken into account several factors during the voting process including the fact that it was time for the Isyak prayers for Muslims when the bloc voting was conducted, that it was night and all the Dewan members were tired after a day of debating.
“When I considered all these, there is nothing that you can describe it, apart from that the (request for) bloc voting was frivolous,” he said.
He said the Speaker had the authority to allow or disallow a motion for bloc voting, to prevent frivolous intentions by MPs.
“In conclusion, I have decided that the bloc voting held on Monday, Nov 20 was in accordance with Standing Orders 46 and 47.
“As such, I will not allow the motion under Standing Order 43 by Puchong to be included in the order of the proceedings,” he said. — Bernama