BN keeps Manjoi and Pasir Panjang state seats

The Election Court here today struck out with costs the petitions to annul the 13th general election results for the Manjoi and Pasir Panjang state seats which were won by Barisan Nasional.

Judge Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim rejected the petitions on grounds that the petitioners in both the petitions failed to comply with Regulation 9 of the Election Petition Rules 1954.

He ordered the petitioner for Manjoi, Ahmad Mansor, a voter, to pay cost of RM40,000 to Manjoi Assemblyman Mohamad Ziad Mohamed Zainal Abidin, RM35,000 to the returning officer (RO) for Manjoi and RM30,000 to the Election Commission (EC), the respondents named in the petition.

The petitioner for the Pasir Panjang state seat, Hamidun Ahmad, also a voter, was ordered to pay RM40,000 each to all three respondents, namely Pasir Panjang Assemblyman Rashidi Ibrahim, the returning officer and the EC.

The BN assemblymen in both the petitions were represented by a panel of lawyers led by Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin.

Senior federal counsel Norinna Bahadun represented the other two respondents in the petition for Manjoi, while senior federal counsel Nadia Hanim Mohd Tajuddin represented the RO and the EC in the petition for Pasir Panjang.

The petitioners were represented by a panel of lawyers led by Aminuddin Zulkifli.

In the 13th general election, PAS candidate, Asmuni Awi, lost to Mohamad Ziad with a 132-vote majority, while Rashidi defeated PAS' Rohawati Abidin and Independent candidate S.Vijayan for the Pasir Panjang state seat with a 304-vote majority.