KUALA LUMPUR, JUNE 30 -A lawyer representing the Barisan Nasional in its election petitions suit has contacted Pakatan Rakyat’s counsel to ask for an out-of-court settlement in several states, claimed PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli.
He said BN’s lawyer had proposed for both sides to withdraw their election petitions in states where the two had filed equal number of petitions.
Speaking to reporters later after the Pakatan Rakyat fundraising dinner here last night, Rafizi claimed he was informed about the matter on Thursday and suspected that BN was looking at Federal Territories, Johor and Melaka.
He said Pakatan had filed two petitions in two constituencies in Kuala Lumpur, namely Titiwangsa and Setiawangsa, while BN had requested a review for Lembah Pantai and Batu constituencies.
“I think the idea they are talking about is in states where they are equal or match the numbers of petition filed against each other, rather than going through the whole process, we might as well withdraw,” he said. He said it is unlikely that Pakatan will accept the offer although the leadership council has yet to discuss the matter.
In a related matter, the newly-minted Pandan MP also claimed that the company that was selected to supply indelible ink to the Election Commission (EC) had neither expertise nor capital.
Claiming that he was in possession of information about the company, Rafizi alleged that the company had to “go around the town” to raise funds to purchase the ink for the May 5 general election.
The EC and the government have todate refused to disclose the identity of the company, saying that it is classified information. “I am waiting for EC to reveal the company.
The longer they keep mum on this, the more information I will get,” he said. Hard evidence Meanwhile the dinner last night, which had 600 guests, was held to raise funds for Pakatan’s post-election court battles.
Giving a preview of the type of evidences Pakatan had, Rafizi claimed there were about 2300 voters in Segamat parliamentary constituency who were moved to the neighbouring Sekijang constituency. Johor PKR chief Chua Jui Meng contested the seat against BN’s Dr. S. Subramaniam and lost by 1,217-majority votes. Rafizi claimed most of the 2,300 voters were Chinese and shared the same house.
“For example one uncle Teoh, who was born in 1949, voted in Segamat but his sons and grandsons were transferred to Sekijang, despite many of them staying in the same house,” he said.
Rafizi also pointed out an incident of blackout in Kulim Bandar Baru on the polling night. He said Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) had confirmed that no single electricity line was faulty at that time.
He also claimed there were many voters who had filled up the Form 10(A) because they were denied the right to vote due to somebody having voted on their behalf.
Meanwhile, Subang MP R. Sivarasa said it might be hard for Pakatan to obtain favourable results through election petition, but it does not mean it is impossible.
“As we saw in the (verdict of) Kugan case, you never know, you might have a right judge at the right time, and you will get an interesting result,” he said.
