MIC retains Kahang state seat after court dismisses PPBM petition

KUALA LUMPUR: MIC has retained the Kahang state seat in Johor after the Election Court dismissed a petition filed by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia's (PPBM) candidate who challenged the results for the seat in the 14th general election.
Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ruled that the suit by PPBM's Norlihan Ariffin failed to specify how the "missing" Borang 14 or Form 14 in a polling station had directly affected the election results.
Form 14 is the official statement of counting in a polling station that summarises the results from that particular station.
"In the petition, the candidate said the presiding officer had produced a new set of forms where the results were different from the earlier form which had gone missing. But she failed to plead in her petition how the number of votes in the new and old forms could affect the final results for Kahang," he said in his ruling.
The court allowed the bid by MIC assemblyman R. Vidyanathan and the Election Commission (EC) to strike out PPBM's petition.
The judge added that Norlihan also did not specify the number of votes stated in the new and old forms when she claimed she had received different figures.
Norlihan was ordered to pay costs of RM10,000 each to Vidyanathan, the EC and its returning officer Nasir Md Ali.
When met outside the courtroom, Vidyanathan said he was happy and relieved with the court's decision as it allowed him to keep the mandate entrusted to him by the voters in Kahang.
Norlihan's lawyer Sharir Abdul Razak said that he would seek instructions from his client on filing an appeal.
In her petition filed on June 13, Norlihan sought to nullify the results for the Kahang state seat. She also sought a court order for a by-election, claiming that Nasir and the EC had breached the Elections (Conduct of Elections) Regulations 1981.