THE special election court has ordered a recount for the Tasek Gelugor parliamentary seat.

Judge Hashim Hamzah ordered the recount to be carried out by a high court senior assistant registrar on January 2 next year.

“The breaking of the seal and opening of the 136 copies of Form 14 in the presence of lawyers for all parties involved will be held at the Penang High Court on January 2,” he was quoted as saying in reports today.

The seat was won by Barisan Nasional’s Shabudin Yahaya in the 14th general election. He beat Pakatan Harapan’s Marzuki Yahya by a mere 81 votes.

Last week, Shabudin and five others quit Umno to become independents. He is expected to join Bersatu.

Deputy Foreign Minister and Senator Marzuki had sought legal action over the Tasek Gelugor results, citing dissatisfaction with the polls outcome.

His election petition was dismissed by election court judge Hashim Hamzah on September 18 on the grounds that it was defective.

On November 28, the Federal Court ordered that the petition be remitted back to the Penang Election Court for a full hearing.

Marzuki then applied for all copies of Form 14 – the final tally of votes at each polling station – to be opened, and for a recount.

His lawyer, Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali, said the copies of Form 14 will be made available to lawyers representing all those involved.

Hashim set January 14 for case mention following the recount.

This is the third election petition accepted by the court after the appeals over the Rantau state seat and Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat.

The Rantau decision is now under appeal, while Cameron Highlands will see a by-election on January 26 after BN component MIC, whose candidate won on May 9, decided not to appeal the court decision to declare the seat vacant. – December 21, 2018.