The Malaysian Insider

IPOH, July 4 — The High Court here today rejected two petitions to nullify the election results for the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary and Kubu Gajah state seats, both of which were won by Barisan Nasional candidates, in the March 8 general election.

The Kuala Kangsar seat was won by Wanita Umno chief Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz and the Kubu Gajah seat by Datuk Seri Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar.

Justice Datuk Zakaria Sam rejected the Kuala Kangsar petition without costs and the Kubu Gajah petition with costs.

Zakaria, in his judgment, said Rafidah had signed the original nomination form while the other two nomination papers which were not signed were copies and it was sufficient to prove that she really intended to contest for the seat.

He said the returning officer had the power to accept or reject nominations and had exercised this power in accepting Rafidah's nomination papers.

The petition filed by a voter, Ahmad Jamaluddin Abd Majid, sought to have the election result for the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary seat declared null and void on ground that Rafidah, the first respondent, did not sign two of the nomination forms as provided for under the First Schedule of the Election (Conduct of Elections) Regulations 1981.

Ahmad Jamaluddin, who also named returning officer Datuk Mohd Ghazali and the Election Commission as respondents, questioned the election result because Rafidah did not sign two of the three nomination papers as required.

In the general election, Rafidah polled 10,735 votes to defeat Perak PAS deputy commissioner Dr Khairuddin Abd Malik with a 1,458-vote majority, while Raja Ahmad polled 4,114 votes to beat Mohamad Nazri Din of PAS by 66 votes.

Rafidah retained her seat for a seventh term after first winning it in 1982.

Earlier, the court rejected the petition for the Kubu Gajah seat filed by Mohamad Nazri who claimed that Raja Ahmad Zainuddin had committed an election.

He also named returning officer Mohamad Yusoff Abustam and the EC as respondents.

He claimed that Raja Ahmad Zainuddin, while campaigning at a house in Kubu Gajah, had told his audience to "Vote so that Barisan Nasional wins, ask for anything and we will give."

Zakaria, however, questioned whether the 500-100 present at the campaign were registered voters of Kubu Gajah.

"And were the 37 people named (who claimed to have received various gifts) also registers voters in N.06 Kubu Gajah. These facts were left out," he said. — Bernama