Bersatu loses petition, court allows objection by BN Tasek Gelugor MP

GEORGE TOWN: The Special Election Court here today upheld Barisan Nasional's (BN) victory in Tasek Gelugor after dismissing an election petition filed by Deputy Foreign Minister Senator Datuk Marzuki Yahya, of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), to challenge the results of the 14th general election (GE14) for the parliamentary constituency.
Judge Datuk Hashim Hamzah made the decision after allowing a preliminary objection by Tasek Gelugor Member of Parliament Datuk Shabudin Yahaya.
In the judgment, Hashim said the petition filed by Marzuki was not in accordance with the law.
"After studying the facts, submissions and views of all parties, this preliminary objection is with basis and the court dismissed the petition," he said and ordered Marzuki to pay cost of RM10,000 to Shabudin.
Marzuki had filed the petition last June 12 seeking for a by-election to be held for the Tasek Gelugor parliamentary seat.
He also asked for a recount of the 689 spoilt votes and 297 unreturned (postal) votes after losing to Shabudin by just 81 votes.
Shabudin received 18,547 votes against Marzuki's 18,466 votes, while Rizal Hafiz Ruslan from PAS received 14,891 votes. Marzuki, who is Penang Bersatu chairman, named Shabudin, Tasek Gelugor Returning officer and the Election Commission (EC) as respondents in the petition.
No costs was ordered to be paid to the second and third defendants and both had withdrawn their preliminary objections against the petition.
Marzuki was represented by lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali, while lawyer Simon Tan represented Shabudin.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Rafique, when met by reporters, said he would get instruction from his client whether to appeal against the decision or not. — Bernama