‘Election Court handling of Tapah petition absurd’

The Election Court handling of the PKR’s candidate for Tapah constituency K. Vasantha Kumar petition is absurd and the RM190,000 cost the highest ever, PKR vice-president R. Sivarasa

PETALING JAYA: PKR’s candidate for Tapah constituency K. Vasantha Kumar said he has a good case in his petition with the Election Court, but he could not even speak for himself when his two lawyers were dismissed by the court.

In addition, he was ordered to bear a whopping RM190,000 cost by the judge without his presence in the court.

PKR vice-president R. Sivarasa said the court’s handling of the Tapah election petition was “absurd” to say the least.

He said the judge Abdul Rahman Sebili first stripped him off the petitioner’s counsel team on Aug 14, on a respondent’s complaint who said that the Sivarasa’s name was not found on the original petition sheet.

“Election petition must be filed in three weeks after the results were gazetted, so that time there was only K. Hariharan’s name on it.

“But for a civil process, lawyer can be appointed and changed anytime during the proceedings,” he said.

As Sivarasa duly withdrew, the respondent’s lawyers made another complaint the next day that one document submitted by Hariharan contained typo mistake that spells the word “advocate” (peguambela) as “lawyer” (peguam).

“For that the judge said Hariharan could not appear in court.

“But even if it is an error, what is the implication of it to the case? The ruling loses sight on the whole purpose of the petition,” Sivarasa said.

“SPR officials granted impunity”

When Vasanthakumar was left with no lawyers, the court handed him another blow, ruling that he cannot represent himself because he has initially opted to appoint lawyers.

The proceeding continued without Vasathakumar, the petitioner, and Abdul Rahman later agreed to the preliminary objections and struck out the petition.

The court ordered that the cost be borne by the petitioner at RM190,000.

“RM190,000 cost is the highest ever in the country for a election petition case that did not go to trial, how absurd it is,” Sivarasa said.

Vasathakumar said the judge had served an injustice to the Tapah voters.

“I bring the case to court because I want to expose the wrongdoings during the election process. If I do not have space in court, where else can I find the space?” he asked.

Hariharan said he wanted to present to court the evidence of manipulation of Form 14, irregularities on advanced votes and intimidation that took place during the campaigning period.

They would file an appeal with the Federal Court on the decision soon.

Barisan Nasional’s M. Saravanan won the Tapah seat with 7,927 majority in the general election, but the polling night was marred by the deployment of Federal Reserve Unit to chase Vasanthakumar out from counting centre.