The Ipoh Election Court today struck out the petition filed by a PAS member to challenge the election result of the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary seat won by Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz.

According to Bernama , Judge Wan Adnan Muhamad made the ruling when allowing the application by Rafidah and two others to set aside the petition filed by PAS member Ahmad Jamaluddin.

Ahmad Jamaluddin Majid, a voter in the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary constituency, named Rafidah, the Election Commission and Kuala Kangsar returning officer Hassan Nawawi Abdul Rahman as respondents in his petition filed on April 30.

At the onset of the proceedings, Rafidah's counsel Zaki Azmi informed the court that the plaintiff had agreed with the grounds in the notice of motion filed by Rafidah and the two others to set aside the petition.

Ahmad Jamaluddin's counsel, Asmuni Awi, told the court that he had studied the notice of motion filed by Rafidah and the two others and agreed that the petition had not been served on Rafidah within 15 days.

This is in contravention of Rule 15 of the Election Offences Rules and as such the petition was deemed to be null and void.

Rafidah, who is in Thailand on a trade and investment mission which also takes her to Vietnam and Indonesia, won the seat with a majority of 5,557 votes on March 21.

The Wanita Umno chief secured 11,305 votes, defeating the PAS candidate, Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, who obtained 5,748 votes.

No costs

At the proceedings, the EC and Hassan Nawawi were represented by Senior Federal Counsel Amarjeet Singh, Narimah Morris and Anita Mary Fernandez.

Asmuni was assisted by counsel Amiruddin Zulkipli and Yusnita Yusuf.

Meanwhile, Justice Wan Adnan did not make any order as to costs as the parties had agreed to bear their own costs.

PAS has also filed several other election petitions nationwide. The opposition party had also filed for a judicial review to nullify the election results for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's Kepala Batas parliamentary constituency.

However, the application was later dismissed on the grounds that it was against court rules as election petitions must be filed at election courts. The party has also filed an election petition against the Kepala Batas election result and it will be heard on Aug 6.