PARTI Solidariti Tanah Airku (Solidariti) chief Jeffrey Kitingan gets to keep his Keningau Federal seat after the election petition challenging his poll win on May 9 was struck out today.

The petition filed by Parti Warisan Sabah’s Jake Nointin was rejected after High Court Judge P Ravindran allowed Kitingan’s preliminary objection.

Nointin was also ordered to pay RM10,000 in costs to Kitingan.

Kitingan’s counsel, Tengku Fuad Ahmad, said the irregularities noted in Nointin’s petition were insufficient to have affected the poll results.

“There were not enough facts given to sustain under Section 32(C) of the Elections Act and the petitioner himself had also withdrawn the charges of general bribery,” he added.

Kitingan won the Keningau parliamentary seat with a slim majority of 45, polling 13,286 votes in a six-cornered fight during the May 9 polls.

Nointin polled 13,241 votes, followed by Barisan Nasional candidate Daniel Kinsik who garnered 12,742 votes, while the three other candidates lost their deposits. – November 1, 2018.