BN and Umno candidate Ahmad Hamzah will retain the Jasin parliamentary seat in Malacca.

This came after the Election Court in Kuala Lumpur today allowed a preliminary objection from Ahmad to a petition filed by Parti Amanah Negara candidate, Khairuddin Abu Hassan.

Justice Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali said the petition should have been filed in the High Court in Malacca, due to it being the state where the election was held, and not in Kuala Lumpur.

He said on this grounds alone he would allow striking out the application from Ahmad.

Justice Ruzima further ruled that the discrepancy in Form 14, after the votes were cast, did not affect the integrity of the election.

"There are two other reasons for the striking out, but based on these two reasons alone, it is sufficient to strike out the petition, " the judge said.

Justice Ruzima ordered Khairuddin (photo) to pay RM20,000 in costs to Ahmad and another RM5,000 to the Election Commission.

The grounds for Khairuddin’s application is on the Form 14 discrepancy that some of the forms do not have the signature of the returning officer and that they were only signed by the candidate’s representatives.

There were also complaints that Form 14 indicated that more ballot papers were issued than the votes that were cast.

Ahmad is the son-in-law of the late deputy prime minister Ghafar Baba and has been an MP since 2004. Prior to this, he was a state assemblyperson.

Khairuddin told reporters that he would not be appealing the decision.

"Let us wait for the 15th general election," said Khairuddin, who was formerly the vice-chairperson of the Umno Batu Kawan division.