THE George Town High Court today set January 20 to decide whether article 14A of the Penang Constitution on anti-party hopping can be validly applied to four assemblymen or vice versa.

Judicial commissioner Azizan Md Arshad fixed the date after hearing arguments by lawyer Chetan Jethwani who represented all four assemblymen, and lawyer Surendra Ananth, who represented the Penang assembly and its speaker Law Choo Kiang.

Azizan also ordered both parties to be present in court on that day. 

Chetan, in his argument, said article 14A of the Penang Constitution is invalid because it is inconsistent with article 10(1)(c) of the Federal Constitution.

“Two of my clients were dismissed from the party and the other two are still in the party, so article 14A of the Penang Constitution should not apply,” he said.

He said in the 2018 general election, Pakatan Harapan, which the four assemblymen represented, was then not a registered coalition.

However, Surendra argued that the Federal Court had decided that the state assembly was entitled to enact laws to determine the qualification of its members. 

“The Federal Court had also ruled that article 14A of the state constitution was not void as it is consistent with article 10(1)(c) of the Federal Constitution,” he said.

Article 14A of the Penang Constitution states that a state assemblyman shall vacate his seat if, having been elected as a candidate of a political party, he resigns or is expelled from a party, or having been elected otherwise than as a candidate of a political party, he joins a political party.

On April 12, Azizan allowed an application by the state assembly and Law to refer questions to the Federal Court to hear and decide on the constitutionality of the state’s anti-party hopping enactment.

Last Friday, Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat dismissed the leave applications by the four assemblymen to challenge the competency of the state assembly to pass an anti-party hopping law.

The four assemblymen – Zulkifli Ibrahim (Sungai Acheh), Afif Bahardin (Seberang Jaya), Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq (Bertam) and Zolkifly Md Lazim (Telok Bahang) – had filed three writs of summons in 2020 against the state assembly and its speaker to challenge a motion introduced in October 2020 for the four to vacate their seats and for by-elections to be held. – Bernama, December 19, 2022.