The Kuala Lumpur High Court's Appellate and Special Powers Division today upheld the Election Commission's (EC) rejection of fresh elections for three state seats in Perak after the controversial “resignation” of three Pakatan Rakyat representatives there in 2009.

NONE Justice Aziah Ali said this after dismissing, in chambers, the application by former Perak speaker V Sivakumar ( left ) against the EC, with costs.

Ambiga Sreenevasan, who represented Sivakumar, said the judge gave no grounds for the decision.

Edmund Bon and Amer Hamzah Arshad also represented the former speaker, while senior federal counsel Kamaluddin Md Said represented the EC.

Sivakumar had been challenging the EC's decision not to call fresh elections for the Jelapang, Behrang, and Changkat Jering seats following the resignations of Hee Yit Foong ( below, right ), Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Mohd Osman Jailu respectively.

This is the final case following the Perak constitutional debacle of February 2009, which precipitated after the three assemblypersons from the ruling Pakatan coalition government resigned from their respective parties and aligned themselves with the BN, enabling it to takeover the state administration.

hee yit foong holding device at yew tian hoe in perak state assembly dewan 070509 Sivakumar had named the EC as the respondent in the judicial review. He wanted a declaration that the commission's rejection of the resignation letters of the assemblypersons was wrong and also sought an order of mandamus to compel the EC to call fresh elections for the three seats.

In a  similar application for judicial review, three former Perak Pakatan exco members, Chen Fook Chye, Tai Sing Ng and A Sivanesan, and voters Ahmad Sabry Wahab (Behrang), Abdul Latif Arifin (Changkat Jering) and Foo Hon Wai (Jelapang) also named the EC and the three assemblypersons as respondents.

However, Ambiga had on Nov 23 last year withdrawn their applications after one of the applicants was said to be not registered as a voter in one of the three disputed constituencies.

On Oct 22, Sivakumar obtained leave (permission) from the court to resume his action.

In a judicial review, the applicant has to obtain the permission of the High Court for his or her application to be heard.

Sivakumar and the others had filed their applications in their personal capacities on March 10, 2009.

Other Perak 'illegal takeover' cases

Besides this case, there have been other actions filed by the former Pakatan government challenging the “illegal takeover” of the state government by the BN.

One of the key actions was the Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin vs Zambry Abdul Kadir case, that went all the way to the Federal Court, which then declared the BN's Zambry as the rightful menteri besar of Perak.

Others actions included Sivakumar's petition to declare the seats of Hee, Jamaluddin and Mohd Osman vacant and the former Speaker's suspension order against Zambry and the other BN assemblypersons.

Another important issue was the matter of Sivakumar vs R Ganesan, the new Perak speaker, in which Sivakumar sought damages and costs for assault, battery and wrongful detention he suffered in the Perak state assembly on May 7 last year – which he also lost in the Court of Appeal.

Najib Abdul Razak has been accused of engineering the BN takeover of Perak after he took over as prime minister, resulting in the debacle.

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