Wednesday, July 16, 2008

WEDNESDAY 16 JULY 2008- BINGKOR POLL PETITION DISMISSED WITH COSTS

Bingkor poll petition dismissed with costs

KOTA KINABALU:

The election petition over the result of the Bingkor State seat was dismissed with costs by the Election Court here yesterday. Justice Datuk Linton Albert made the decision after allowing the preliminary objection raised by Counsel Datuk Douglas Primus for the victorious Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Justin Guka to the petition brought by a voter, Roheit Linggi, who was seeking an order to declare the result null and void. In his petition filed soon after the March general election, Robert named the Election Commission (EC), Returning Officer (RO) Zulkifli b Nazir and Justin as the first, second and third respondents respectively. In his ruling after hearing submissions from both parties, Linton held that the petitioner had failed to comply with Election Petition Rules and Regulations 3(2), had amended his petition without obtaining leave from the curt, and was out of time. Robert was represented by Counsel Yunof Maringking, while Senior Federal Counsel Suzanna Atan and Chandra Dewi A/P Letchumanan represented the EC and the RO respectively. Met after the proceedings, Yunof said his client had instructed him to appeal against the decision atahigher court, saying he would file the necessary papers as soon as possible. The Bingkor election petition is said to be the first petition struck out by a court after the general election. Meanwhile, Linton ordered the election petition filed by Independent Candidate Japirin Suhaimin over the result of the Kundasang state seat to go for a full trial after dismissing the preliminary objections by the victorious BN candidate DrJoachim Gunsalam ard Returning Officer Siriman M.F. Basir who are the first and second respondents respectively. The court reserved August 4 for the trial of the election petition. The State constituency was won by Joachim with a 1,806-vote majority. He defeated japirin and PIKR Candidate Karim Adam. Japirin was represented by Counsel Arthur Borni.

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