PKR election petitions struck off in Penang

The petitions were rejected on technical grounds as they were not served properly to the respondents.

GEORGE TOWN: The Election Court here today struck off petitions filed by two defeated PKR candidates to nullify victories of Barisan Nasional assemblymen in the 13th general election on technical grounds.

Judge Hadariah Syed Ismail dismissed both election petitions with costs.

The petitions were brought by Abdul Halim Hussain against BN’s Teluk Bahang representative Shah Haedan Ayoob Hussain and Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik against Balik Pulau MP Dr Hilmi Yahaya.

Judge Hadariah dismissed the petitions on the ground of being defective.

The judge also said the petitions were not served properly to the three respondents, including the returning officer and Election Commission secretary.

Both PKR men filed petitions on June 12 to nullify the BN men’s victories claiming various electoral frauds, vote-buying and irregularities, including discrepancies in ballot papers issued and counting.

The judge also noted that the allegations were not properly pleaded.

Hadariah ordered Muhammad Bakhtiar to pay RM40,000 cost to each respondent while Halim was ordered to pay RM10,000 each.

Dr Hilmi got 22,318 votes against Bakhtiar’s 20,779 to win the parliamentary seat with a 1,539-majority.

Shah Haedan won the seat with 6,034 votes against Halim’s 5,233.

A fortnight ago, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) recommended to the Attorney-General to close all seven cases of alleged electoral vote buying in Penang due to lack of evidence.

“I believe they have accepted our recommendations,” said Penang MACC director Samarajoo Manikam.

He said details obtained from the witnesses did not show any offence against the MACC Act 2009.

He said some of the witnesses could not provide details of who issued the alleged vouchers and how they were being distributed.

On May 13, seven Pakatan Rakyat candidates who lost in the election lodged reports with MACC over alleged vote-buying.

They were Abdul Halim, Mohd Tuah Ismail (Pulau Betong), Norhayati Jaafar (Teluk Air Tawar), Ahmad Zakiyuddin Abd Rahman (Pinang Tunggal) and Muhammad Bakhtiar, all from PKR, and PAS candidates – Asnah Hashim (Bayan Lepas) and Rosidi Hussain (Penaga).