THE Federal Court has allowed Barisan Nasional’s M. Ramasamy’s appeal to reinstate his petition challenging the victory of Segamat MP R. Yuneswaran of Pakatan Harapan (PH) at the general election last year.

The matter will now go to a full trial after Federal Court Judge, Justice Zabariah Yusof found the particulars pleaded in the filing sufficient.

“The Election Court must determine whether there were elements of bribery and if the campaign materials used by PH violated election laws,” said Zabariah.

Also hearing the appeal were Justices Mary Lim and Hasnah Hashim.

The apex court fixed the petition for case management in the Muar High Court on August 24.

Earlier this year, the Election Court in Muar struck out Ramasamy’s petition against Yuneswaran on grounds it was defective and it did not comply with the requirements set out in the Election Offences Act 1954.

Yuneswaran won the seat in the November polls with a majority of 5,669 votes. He defeated Ramasamy, Perikatan Nasional’s P. Poobalan and Pejuang’s Syed Hairoul Faizey. 

In his petition, the MIC treasurer-general claimed Yuneswaran and his agents violated election rules on campaign materials.

He alleged that Yuneswaran distributed food parcels to voters on the campaign trail.

Lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah appeared for Ramasamy while G. Manivanan and Lau Yi Leong appeared for Yuneswaran.

Senior federal counsel Suzana Atan and Zureen Elina Dom appeared for the Election Commission. – August 18, 2023.