DAP deputy chairperson Karpal Singh today took Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamed Zahir Ismail to task for dismissing a motion to debate the impeachment of the Election Commission (EC) chief and its commissioners.

"Shall a speaker consult the Attorney-General (Abdul Gani Patail) who is a government staff?

"The speaker should be impartial and a man of the House," said Karpal, who is also Bukit Gelugor MP, in his debate on the motion of thanks for the Royal Address.

Mohamed Zahir had struck off the motion tabled by DAP chief and Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang on the ground that it could be sub-judice as several election petitions were still pending in courts nationwide.

Lim, who had planned to file a motion to review the decision, had his hopes dashed when the speaker held that no motion pertaining to the general election will be entertained.

Following the March 21 general election, opposition parties took the EC and its chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman to task for conducting an 'unfair' and problem-ridden polls.

Re-open probe on Rafidah

Meanwhile, Karpal also took a jibe at Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, who oversees parliamentary affairs, for being absent from today's session. (He however arrived later)

"See, despite his special task, he is not in the House now," he said, adding that Nazri's portfolio was redundant.

Also coming under the opposition leader's crosshairs was International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz.

Karpal urged the AG to re-open its investigation into Rafidah over her alleged involvement in a share scandal.

"Rafidah got the protection from whom? (Former premier) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad)," he told the House.

In 2002, then Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim, who was also the de facto law minister then, said there was not enough evidence to prosecute Rafidah.