The Election Court in Kuala Lumpur has fixed Aug 16 to hear Cameron Highlands MP C Sivaraajh's application to strike out the election petition filed by DAP's M Manogaran.

The date was fixed by Justice Azizah Nawawi following case management on the matter today.

Lawyer M Rajenthirakumar for Manogaran said since the hearing date has been fixed for Sept 3, if the striking out application fails, the court will issue the directive on when the witness statements should be filed.

Manogaran filed the election petition on June 5 to nullify the outcome of the Cameron Highlands election result.

He claimed that the eventual victor, Sivaraajh, who is from the MIC, had bribed and threatened the voters, especially the Orang Asli community that comprises 20 percent of the voters there.

Manogaran said Sivaraajh and Jelai assemblyperson Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail had paid the constituents "duit rokok" (financial inducement), resulting in him losing the parliamentary seat by 597 votes in the May 9 general election.

In his 161-page petition filed in Kuala Lumpur, the DAP member said he had lost many Orang Asli votes despite having campaigned there since 2016.