Rayong speaks to Wong at the courthouse today.
KUCHING (March 15): High Court Judge Duncan Sikodol will decide on Friday whether the election petition filed by defeated Lubok Antu parliamentary candidate Dr Johnical Rayong Ngipa should be struck out or sustained.
This follows the application by defendants Lubok Antu MP Roy Angau Gingkoi of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), the Returning Officer (RO), and Election Commission (EC) to strike out Rayong’s election petition without going to trial.
The defendants filed the application on the basis that Rayong’s election petition had been filed out of time and that it did not plead all the necessary ingredients of the grounds that he complained of.
Rayong is Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) deputy president and Engkilili assemblyman.
On Jan 3, Rayong’s lawyer Clement Wong filed the election petition to seek a court declaration to nullify the election results for Lubok Antu parliamentary constituency.
Wong had said the PSB deputy president submitted three grounds for the petition, one of which was the failure of the RO to conduct a recount when requested after Rayong lost to Roy by a razor-thin majority of 100 votes.
The other two grounds involved alleged elements of bribery and corruption.
According to Wong, all three grounds were provided for under Section 32(a), (b) and (c) of the Election Offences Act 1954.
On Nov 23 last year, Rayong had requested the EC recount the votes and double-check the spoilt and unreturned votes, as well as the voter turnout.
He had expressed his disappointment that this did not occur on the side-lines of the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting.
During the parliamentary election, Rayong polled 6,544 votes, while Roy obtained 6,644 in a four-cornered fight for Lubok Antu.
Incumbent Jugah Muyang, who stood on a Perikatan Nasional (PN) ticket, received 5,360 votes, while Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Langga Lias lost his deposit after garnering just 746 votes.
In total, there were 19,537 votes cast for the seat, with 200 spoilt votes and 43 unreturned ballot papers.
Voter turnout was 67.4 per cent.
Lubok Antu constituency has 28,995 registered voters.