KANGAR, An Election Court Wednesday declared vacant the Sanglang state seat won by Abdullah Hassan of the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the March 8 general election.
In quashing the petition by PAS candidate Hashim Jasin who sought a declaration that he was the victorious candidate for the seat, Judge Datuk Zainal Adzam Abdul Ghani said the court had no jurisdiction to declare Hashim as the assembyman for the seat.
This was because Section 35(c) of the Election Offences Act 1954, which empowers the Election Court to make such declarations, was abolished in 2003.
He said the court left it to the Election Commission to decide whether a by-election should be held and when to hold it.
Hashim, who is also Perlis PAS commissioner, filed the petition on April 24 to nullify the election result for the Sanglang state seat on grounds that he should have been the winning candidate.
Hashim had named Abdullah, returning officer for the Arau parliamentary seat Muhamad Daud Abdull (rpt Abdull) Hamid and the Election Commission as the respondents.
In the election, Abdullah won the seat by a 149-vote majority after polling 3,384 votes while Hashim received 3,235 votes.
In his petition, Hashim claimed the second and third respondents had committed mistakes by declaring Abdullah as the assemblman for the seat.
He claimed the decision was contrary to the figures stated on Form 14 which showed he (Hashim) had won by a 47-vote majority after garnering 3,333 votes against Abdullah's 3,286.
In objecting to Hashim's preliminary objection, Abdullah had sought the court's ruling for a by-election to be held to settle the matter.
Abdullah was represented by K. Jegathesan while Hashim by Mohamad Ariff Yusof.
BERNAMA
18/06/08
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