Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 — The application of former Perak state assembly speaker V. Sivakumar and six others for a judicial review of the Election Commission’s (EC) decision not to hold by-elections for three state seats in Perak will come up further case management on May 27.
On Oct 22, last year, they were granted leave to initiate a judicial review application to quash the EC’s decision in not declaring the Behrang, Changkat Jering and Jelapang state seats vacant following the decision of the three assemblymen to be independent members of the state assembly.
High Court judge Datuk Lau Bee Lan, in dismissing a preliminary objection from the Attorney-General Chambers to the leave application, ruled that they, Sivakumar (picture), Chen Fook Chye, Tai Sing Ng and A.Sivanesan — and three voters, Ahmad Sabry Wahab (Behrang), Abdul Latif Ariffin (Changkat Jering) and Foo Hon Wai (Jelapang) — had “locus standi” to challenge the EC’s decision.
In the judicial review application they named the EC and three assemblymen — Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang), Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu (Changkat Jering) and Datuk Hee Yit Foong (Jelapang) as respondents.
Sivakumar’s lawyer, Razlan Hadri Zulkifli, told reporters that they had served legal papers on the EC, Jamaluddin, and Mohd Osman but had yet to serve the documents on Foong.
They want the court to compel the EC to declare the seats vacant following the resignation of three assemblymen and an injunction to stop the trio from acting and carrying out the functions and duties of assemblymen.
They also want a writ of “quo warranto” to compel the trio to show why they are still the representatives of their constituencies and can carry out the responsibilities, functions and duties of assemblymen.
Jamaluddin and Osman won their seats on PKR tickets and Hee, under the DAP banner, in Election 2008.
They later left their parties and pledged support for Barisan Nasional, leading to the collapse of the PAS-PKR-DAP coalition government in Perak which was then led by Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin. — Bernama