Penang DAP organising secretary Danny Law Heng Kiang is expected to seek an Election Court order soon to declare the recent election results for the Batu Lanchang state seat null and void.

Law will also seek an order for the Election Commission to hold a fresh election for the state seat, which he lost to Gerakan's Ng Fook On by 139 votes following a recount in the general election last month. He was the incumbent Batu Lanchang assemblyman prior to the general election.

The Penang DAP leader told reporters in the state recently that he had submitted his case file to the party's legal team headed by its national deputy chairperson Karpal Singh.

The Election Commission gazetted the general election results on Monday. "I have 31 days to file in the petition in Penang High Court," Law said.

Among the burning issues he would seek the court to address are discrepancies in the vote-counts on the March 21 polling day which he lost by 75 votes, and the recount the next day.

On polling day, Law garnered 7,492 votes against Ng's 7,567. However, the recount next day gave 7,606 votes while Law obtained 7,467.

Law said he could not comprehend how such discrepancies could occur when the returning officer did not allow a recount on the 289 spoilt votes that were registered on polling day.

To support his case, he said he would challenge the different results that occurred at several polling stations.

Identical score difference

For example, on polling day, he said he obtained 137 votes against Ng's 101 votes from the ballot boxes at SRJK(C) Kheng Tean polling station.

"However, on the recount, the result was the exact contrast. I lost with an identical score line. How could that happen?" he posed.

In his petition, Law said he would also protest on double voting by certain individuals.

"There were cases where two individuals voted under the same name and identity card numbers at a polling station at different hours. We have evidence to substantiate our claims," he said.

He added his petition would also highlight the existence of phantom voters and transfer of voters from Batu Lanchang to other constituencies, such as Permatang Pauh, Kepala Batas and Balik Pulau, without the knowledge of the registered voters.

Law's defeat in Batu Lanchang, which comes under the Jelutong parliamentary seat, was a shock given that the seat has been a DAP stronghold since the 1986 general election.

Penang residents will promptly acknowledge that even on a bad day, such as when DAP was defeated in all state seats in Penang during the 1995 and 1999 general elections, the party would win in Batu Lanchang.

A VEERANGAN is malaysiakini's stringer in Penang