The High Court in Kuala Kumpur will on Feb 7 rule whether to strike out a lawsuit by the opposition on the failure of the indelible ink used to mark voters during the 13th general election.

The date was set after preliminary objections from the Election Commission against the opposition's lawsuit on the failure of the indelible ink were heard today.

If the lawsuit proceeds, the outcome of the suit could impact the validity of the May 5, 2013 election results.

In its application to the High Court to strike out the suit, the EC argued today that the lawsuit filed by Pakatan Rakyat election candidates was vexatious, frivolous and an abuse of the court process.

The suit was filed by three candidates in the 13th general election – Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad of PAS, Saifuddin Nasution of PKR and DAP's M Manogaran – all of whom lost narrowly  in their contested constituencies.

They argued that the failure of the indelible ink would have been sufficient to affect the outcome of GE13, as it could have made it easier for fraudulent voters to cast ballots more than once.

In its statement of claim, Pakatan asked the court to set aside the results of the 222 parliamentary constituencies and to order fresh elections to be held because of the failure of the indelible ink, which they claimed resulted in cheating.