Polls petitions dismissed, candidates told to pay costs
Not only were their election petitions dismissed, two PKR candidates were ordered by the Penang High Court to pay costs to their opponents as they failed to comply with provisions in the election rules.
Not only were their election petitions dismissed, two PKR candidates were ordered by the Penang High Court to pay costs to their opponents as they failed to comply with provisions in the election rules.
PKR candidate for Teluk Bahang, Abdul Halim Hussain said he was ordered to pay RM10,000 each in cost to the respondents - BN Teluk Bahang assemblyperson Shah Headan Ayoob Hussain Shah, the constituency returning officer (RO) and the Election Commission (EC).
"Of course, I am disappointed. We have used all available channels - from the police, EC and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) - to make our cases heard," Abdul Halim (
right
) told
Malaysiakini
when contacted.
"I did not expect the case would be dismissed even before going to trial and what is worse is having to pay costs to the respondents even though we have followed the proper channel."
Justice Hadariah Syed Ismail yesterday dismissed the petitions filed by Abdul Halim and PKR Balik Pulau parliament candidate Mohd Baktiar Wan Chik for failing to comply with the provisions under the Election Petition Rules 1954.
Hadariah also ordered Mohd Baktiar to pay cost of RM40,000 each to three respondents - Balik Pulau MP Dr Hilmi Yahaya, the constituency RO and EC.
Abdul Halim and Mohd Bakhtiar had filed the petitions in June to declare null and void the victories of the Umno assemblyperson in Teluk Bahang state and Balik Pulau parliamentary seats, citing electoral fraud in the 13th general election.
Court insists documents sent by registered post
Abdul Halim said he may be filing an appeal, expressing concern that "something is just not right" at the manner in which the court case turned out.
Abdul Halim is represented by lawyers S Raveentharan and CV Prabakharan, while Mohd Bakhtiar is represented by R Murali.
When contacted, Murali said the case was struck out as the judge insisted that the petitioner send the respondents the court documents by registered post.
"We told the court we did sent them out by registered post but did not receive any reply.
"We had also sent the documents to Hilmi in person but the court insisted that we show proof of registered post that the respondents have received the documents," he said.
Murali said that Baktiar had to pay RM40,000 each to the three respondents because the judge had insisted that no other lawyer could be appointed to represent him.
"I was at the Federal Court this morning (in Putrajaya) and only returned to Penang in the afternoon, so we have appointed another lawyer to handle Baktiar's case.
"However, the judge insisted that I handle it and waited for me to return, and for this she had raised the cost to RM40,000," he added.
On whether there would be any appeal, Murali said he would leave it to his client to decide.
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