KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat has declared the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat as vacant.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul said the lower house has already received notice on the unexpected vacancy for the seat.
The vacancy came about after its incumbent, Datuk Ahmad Amzad Mohamed @ Hashim from Pas, did not file an appeal over a court decision which annulled his win, in line with Section 36A of the Election Offences Act 1954, which ended on Tuesday.
Johari said he notice was made after the Election Court had declared Ahmad Amzad's win on November 19 last year null and void.
"The High Court on Tuesday had also issued a confirmation, declaring that the general election win for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat on November 19, 2022, as invalid.
"As such, the Election Commission will hold a by-election to fill the post within 60 days of the seat vacancy," he said in a statement.
Prior to this, the Election Court in Kuala Terengganu on June 27 had declared as invalid Ahmad Amzad's win in last year's 15th General Election (GE15).
Supreme Court judge Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril had allowed Mohd Zubir Embong, the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the seat, to file a petition over the result.
The judge issued the verdict after ruling that the petitioner had succeeded in proving that there were elements of corruption involved during the GE15 campaign.
On Jan 3 this year, Terengganu Umno had filed a petition in the Kuala Terengganu High Court to strike out the GE15 result for the Kuala Terengganu seat, based on the Election Offences Act 1954.
Terengganu Umno chairman, Datuk Seri Ahmad Said, was quoted as saying that the petition had, among others, claimed that Pas had bribed voters by distributing financial aid from the state government between Nov 15 and 17 via the i-Pencen, i-Belia and i-Siswa programmes.
Ahmad Amzad won the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat in GE15 after securing 63,016 votes, defeating Mohd Zubir (22,109 votes), Pejuang candidate Mohamad Abu Bakar Muda (481 votes) and Pakatan Harapan candidate, Raja Datuk Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad Shah (10,946 votes).