SHAH ALAM, August 17: The People’s Justice Party (PKR – Parti Keadilan Rakyat) is disappointed that the Election Court disregarded proof of dishonesty in the 13th General Election (GE-13) even though it was in the form of a video recording.
PKR Vice-President, N Surendran is disappointed because the petition for the Bagan Datoh Parliamentary seat was accompanied by concrete evidence in the form of a video footage showing bribery of RM100 to about 24,000 voters.
“Of course we are disappointed and disagree with the court’s decision. We hope that the court will not use technical reasons to reject the petition. We are not satisfied and it is inconsistent with the law.
“The petition should not have been rejected on technical reasons until the appeal counsel makes submissions. It was completely not received by the court, (it is) too technical,” he told TVSelangor.
He said this when asked to comment on the decision of the court yesterday of dismissing the petition filed by PKR for the Bagan Datoh Parliamentary seat on technical reasons which are considered to be trivial.
This was after the two petitions filed by the candidate for the seat, Madhi Hasan and a parliamentary voter, Azmi Sulaiman, was rejected on grounds that the names of the lawyers were not included.
The Ipoh Electoral Court was said to only the petitioner or his attorney to file the petition and not the law firm.
In the Ge-13, the Minister of Home Affairs, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi received the a majority of 2,108 votes, defeating Madhi for the Bagan Datoh Parliamentary seat.
Surendran said that the decision could create a negative perception of the integrity of the judiciary institution, which should be independent in handling election petitions.
However, he said that PKR will continue the legal process for the Bagan Datoh petition by filing an appeal.
“We will continue the fight to prove that the victory of the GE-13 was stolen by BN. We will not stop fighting to prove that fact to the people,” he said.