SHAH ALAM, Aug 2 – The Election Court here, today, rejected the petition filed by Barisan Nasional (BN) to annul the election results for the Penggaram state constituency in Johor, which was won by DAP in the 13th general election.
Judge Datuk Suraya Othman made the decision after allowing a preliminary objection by DAP candidate Gan Peck Cheng.
In the last general election, Gan won the Penggaram state seat by defeating BN’s King Ban Siang with a majority of 10,051 votes.
Suraya, who rejected the petition with RM20,000 cost, said in her judgement that the petition had to be rejected as there were flaws in the details and information given by the petitioner, King.
She also dismissed claims that Gan’s action of holding a reception for voters at Taman Sri Penggaram, Batu Pahat, Johor, on May 18 was bribery. “The court rejected the issue as it was not relevant to the law and the petitioner also failed to give complete details on bribery in the reception,” she said.
King, as petitioner, was represented by counsel Izzat Muhtar in filing the petition on June 10, against Gan, who was represented by counsels Gobind Singh and Thomas Philip.
In the petition, King alleged that Gan had his action to hold a function for Penggaram voters which led to his victory, was tantamount to bribery.
He claimed that Gan or his agents displayed a banner on May 18, which clearly invited voters of Penggaram to attend the feast which was attended by about 2,000 people.
King alleged that banners which read “Ubah Sekarang dan Bersihkan Malaysia” (Change Now and Clean Malaysia) were distributed and put up by the respondent to evoke discontent among voters in the area.
Therefore, he requested the court to declare that the election held before this was invalid and annulled.
-BERNAMA
