The Alor Star High Court this morning struck out the Kulim-Bandar Baru election petition which from the very beginning looked very favourable to the petitioner Barisan Nasional.

A sudden decision by the BN to withdraw its petition today resulted in the court to strike out the matter.

With this, PKR's Zulkifli Nordin is set to remain the member of parliament for the constituency.

BN seemingly had a strong case to win this petition which it filed on the grounds that Zulkifli had failed to submit his statement of expenditure from his 2004 general election campaign.

bandar kulim bharu kedah parliament seat results 180708 Under the Election Act, candidates who do not submit their statement of expenditure to the Election Commission can be disqualified from contesting in future elections.

The petition was filed by Umno's losing candidate Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir against Zulkifli and the Election Commission.

In the election petition, Abdul Aziz also claimed that the returning officer had failed to act against Zulkifli despite having documents confirming his failure to submit the statement of expenditure.

In the 2008 general election, Zulkifli won the seat, which has 51, 995 voters, by a margin of 5,583.

In the 2004 general election, Zulkifli contested the Kuala Langat parliamentary seat in Selangor but lost to Umno's Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh.

‘Don't mean much'

abdul aziz sheikh fadzir Meanwhile, when contacted Abdul Aziz said he decided to withdraw the petition to "concentrate on the ongoing economy matters".

"A by-election would consume much energy. Also, one more seat would not mean much (for the BN)," he said.

He added that the decision to withdraw the petition was made a few days ago following a discussion with Kedah Umno and BN leaders.

"I am willing to sacrifice my right to challenge Zulkifli so that the people and the government can work together to stabilise the country's political, economic and unity situation, which are in critical condition right now," he said.

Abdul Aziz also said that he respected the decision of the voters to ensure the victor for Zulkifli at the general election.

He added that he would still serve the people of Kulim-Bandar Baru.

Despite Abdul Aziz's explanation, speculations are mounting that the real reason for the withdrawal could be due to the possibility of Zulkifli defecting to Umno.

When Abdul Aziz was asked about this today, he said he doesn't know anything about that but admitted having heard "some rumours" on that matter.

zulkifli noordin Zulkifli could not be contacted for comment. He was also absent from Parliament today. It is learnt that he is not in the country at the moment.

Zulkifli, a lawyer, had come under fire from his own party recently for leading a group to protest against a Bar Council organised interfaith forum.

His party PKR has said that he would face discipline action for his behaviour but so far no action has been taken against him.