Anifah
KOTA KINABALU: Former Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman’s lawyers will be submitting an application to set aside the Federal Court in Putrajaya decision to uphold the August 16 decision of the election court to declare the result for the Kimanis seat in the last general election null and void.
Anifah’s Special Officer Datuk James Ligunjang in a statement said that the former Kimanis Member of Parliament’s lawyers would also be seeking compensation from the Election Commission (EC) for failing to run the Kimanis parliamentary electoral process in accordance with the law, and failure to defend itself on the allegations held against them in the Kimanis election petition.
On Monday, the Federal Court in Putrajaya decided to uphold the August 16 decision of the election court to declare the result for the Kimanis seat in the last general election null and void.
The election court had found discrepancies in the conduct of the election process and widespread non-compliance of election laws, which it said could have affected the outcome of the election.
In his election petition, Datuk Karim Bujang, the Warisan candidate who lost to Anifah by a 156-vote margin, alleged discrepancies in the ballots on the part of EC and accused Anifah of bribery and corruption.
The election court agreed with Karim that there was misconduct on the part of EC in handling Forms 13 and 14 that affected some 341 ballots. It, however, dropped the bribery and corruption charges against Anifah.
In a three-cornered fight, Anifah, who contested on an Umno ticket, secured 11,942 votes against Karim, who secured 11,786 votes, and Parti Harapan’s Jaafar Ismail, who garnered 1,300 votes.
Anifah later left Umno to become an independent.
The EC has yet to announce a date for a by-election, saying it is waiting for an official notification from the Federal Court.