BN loses appeals over Batu, Lembah Pantai petitions
Court of Appeals president Md Raus Sharif said there was no reason to disturb finding of election court
(FMT) – The Federal Court has dismissed the appeals over election petitions for four parliamentary constituencies and allowed those for one state and three parliamentary seats.
Court of Appeals president Md Raus Sharif, chairing a five-member panel comprising also justices Abdull Hamid Embong, Ahmad Maarop, Hasan Lah and Datuk Seri Abu Samah Nordin, dismissed the appeals for the Sungai Besar and Kuala Selangor parliamentary seats in Selangor and the Batu and Lembah Pantai parliamentary seats in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.
The court dismissed the appeals brought by two voters, Mat Ismail Nasir (Sungai Besar) and Muhammad Rashid Muhammad Kasim (Kuala Selangor), against the election courts decisions, thus maintaining the victory of Datuk Noriah Kasnon (Sungai Besar) and Datuk Irmohizam Ibrahim (Kuala Selangor) of the Barisan Nasional (BN).
In a unanimous ruling, Justice Md Raus said the court had no reason to disturb the findings of the election courts which had struck out the petitions.
The court also ordered the two appellants, Mat Ismail and Muhammad Rashid, to pay a total of RM60,000 to the six respondents, Noriah, Irmohizam, the Election Commission (in both the cases) and the two returning officers.
As for the appeals for the Batu and Lembah Pantai parliamentary seats, Justice Md Raus said the court was of the view that the petitions lacked material facts and there was also no cause of action against the respondents.
It had dismissed the appeal over the election petition filed by BN candidate Dr Dominic Lau Hoe Chai to nullify the victory of Chua Tian Chang (Tian Chua) of PKR and that of Lembah Pantai voter Mohamad Sazali Kamilan to nullify the victory of Nurul Izzah Anwar, also of PKR.
