KOTA BARU: The Election Court today threw out a petition challenging the result of the Gua Musang parliamentary constituency seat during the 15th General Election.
High Court judge Datuk Roslan Abu Bakar, in his decision, said the court had rejected all three reasons for the petition filed by Mohd Azmi Mahmood, a voter in the constituency, on behalf of Barisan Nasional candidate Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
He also ordered that Azmi pay costs of RM25,000.
Roslan said the petition , filed on Jan 3 this year, had gone past the number of days allowed for a petition to be filed, which according to the Election Offences Act 1954 should not exceed 28 days.
He said the appointment of counsels for the petitioner had also not been in accordance with Section 38 of the same act.
"The petitioner also did not give any strong evidence that supports the accusations of bribery and corruption during the election, as contained in the petition, making it defective and void.
"In the facts provided, there are no details of the alleged bribery and corruption, including the absence of details of the persons who allegedly gave or received the bribes," he said.
Azmi was represented by counsels Datuk Abu Bakar Isa Rahmat, Mohamed Baharuddin Mohamed Ariff and Norhazira Abu Hayyan, while the respondent, Gua Musang member of parliament Datuk Mohamad Azizi Abu Naim, was represented by Wan Rohimi Wan Daud, Nik Bahrum Nik Abdulllah, Yusfarizal Yusoff and Mohd Faizi Che Abu.
In GE15, Tengku Razaleigh failed to defend the Gua Musang seat which he had held for 11 terms when he lost to Azizi by a razor thin majority of 163 votes.
His attempt to get the returning officer to institute a recount was rejected. Click Here