THE Federal Court today sent back the Gua Musang election petition filed by Barisan Nasional (BN) to the High Court for a full hearing of the merits.

A three-member panel, led by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli, allowed the appeal by Mohd Azmi Mahmood, a representative for BN candidate Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, to set aside the High Court’s decision, which struck out the election petition.

The court also ordered the petition to go for a full hearing before another judge and fixed June 26 for mention of the case at the Kota Baru High Court.

In the court’s unanimous decision, judge Abdul Rahman said the High Court judge had erred when he decided that the petition was filed out of time.

He also said the court was satisfied that the petitioner (Azmi) had fulfilled the requirement under the rules of the Election Offences Act 1954.

The other two judges were Federal Court judges Hasnah Mohammed Hashim and Nordin Hassan.

Azmi filed the petition in a bid to nullify last November’s general election results for the Gua Musang parliamentary seat, which was won by PAS-Bersatu candidate Mohd Azizi Abu Naim, who defeated Tengku Razaleigh by a majority of 1,826 votes.

Meanwhile, the same Federal Court panel dismissed Putrajaya Umno division vice-chief Ahmad Faisal Abdul Karim’s appeal to remit back the election petition, which was filed to challenge the general election results for the Putrajaya parliamentary seat, to the High Court for a full hearing.

Following the court’s decision, Bersatu vice-president Mohd Radzi Md Jidin retained his position as Putrajaya MP.

Abdul Rahman said there was no merit in Faisal’s appeal as particulars pleaded by the petitioner in the petition lack details. He ordered Faisal to pay RM30,000 in costs.

Faisal filed the election petition to challenge the election results for the Putrajaya seat, which was won by Radzi.

Radzi defeated Putrajaya four-term incumbent Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor of BN with a 2,310-vote majority in a six-cornered fight.

Two separate High Courts have respectively struck out both election petitions after allowing the preliminary objections raised by Radzi and Azizi.

On March 10, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed Radzi’s preliminary objection to strike out the petition after ruling that Faisal failed to prove that corrupt practices were committed by either Radzi or his agent.

On February 26, the Kota Baru High Court struck out Azmi’s petition after ruling that the petition was filed out of the permitted time frame of 28 days as set out under the Election Offences Act.

Lawyer Mohd Hafarizam Harun appeared for both Azmi and Faisal while counsel Yusfarizal Yussoff represented Azizi and Radzi. – Bernama, June 19, 2023.