A Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) polling agent for the Kota Marudu seat in the 13th general election, Majlis Lubok, told the Election Court in Kota Kinabalu today that the Ketua Tempat Mengundi (KTM) or polling station head at Balai Raya Bombong did not announce the number of votes obtained by the contenders for the seat.

As such, Majlis, 33, said he did object or complain about it after the vote counting process was completed.

“How could I make an objection on the votes obtained by the candidates when the KTM did not announce the votes tally obtained by each of the candidates,” he said when testifying during the hearing of the election petition seeking to nullify the 13th general election result for Kota Marudu parliamentary seat.

Majlis said he was also not given Form 14, which recorded the total number of votes obtained by each candidate, by the KTM, but was only asked to sign the form.

“After the ballot counting process, I asked the KTM for the Form 14, (but) the KTM said that they were not instructed by the district officer to give the form to the agents or polling agents after the vote counting,” he added.

Earlier, Jabinson Jaunar, 29, the PKR agent at SK Tanjung Batu, Kota Marudu, said he was also not given the Form 14.

In the petition, the PKR candidate, Maijol Mahap, had named Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Dr Maximus Ongkili, who won the seat for the Barisan Nasional (BN), as the first respondent and returning officer (RO) Lovita Koisun and the Election Commission (EC) as the second and third respondents respectively.

On Aug 13, Judge Yew Jen Kee had ruled that allegations of corruption against Ongkili pertaining to the contest be dropped from the petition but maintained Ongkili as the first respondent by virtue of him being the winner.

In his petition, Mahap had claimed that copies of Form 14 were not given to PKR’s polling agents.

Ongkili won by a majority of 842 votes after garnering 15,168 votes in a four-cornered fight. Mahap obtained 14,326 votes, Star candidate Majamis Timbong (2,228 votes) while Yuntau alias Kuntau Kolod (SAPP) only managed 444 votes.

- Bernama