By A Sam Lini - Free Malaysia TodaySANDAKAN: Members of two PKR divisions in Sabah – Batu Sapi and Sandakan – have filed suits against the party over alleged irregularities in the recent polls to elect the deputy president.
The two suits were filed separately at the Sandakan High Court registry this morning.
The members are asking the court to declare the election results in the two divisions null and void. They also want fresh polls to be held in their divisions for the number two post.
In the Batu Sapi suit, five members from the division – Mohd Suffian Jamal, Amir Hamzah Aliong, Saiful Bahari Rashada Ahmad, Bobong Sakaupal and Amiruddin Abdul Kadir – said they believed there had been electoral malpractices and mismanagement of the election process in the elections held in the division on Nov 13.
They named Batu Sapi division chief Hassanar Ibrahim and PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail as defendants.
In their affidavits, they said that Hassanar had not allowed them to vote as he was unsure when the balloting would begin.
However, they said that they noted about 30 to 40 people had turned up for the election which started at 1pm and ended at about 4pm.
"We were shocked with the result of the election when we were informed that Azmin Ali, one of the three candidates for the post of deputy president, has obtained 1,027 votes between 1pm and 4pm when only 30 to 40 people turned up at the material time," they said.
They added that the party had not taken any action over the increased number of voters.
As such, they want the court to declare the results which favoured Azmin invalid and for fresh polls ordered in the division.
Manipulation in Sandakan
The Sandakan PKR suit was filed by party member Chee Yiu Leong who claimed that the voting process was manipulated in the division during the election on Nov 6.
He said that outsiders were ferried in to vote in favour of Azmin. He added that some voters voted more than once.
Chee, who is also the Sandakan Youth chief, said he discovered someone named Ardat Tusin was involved in organising members and non-members to cast extra votes.
Ardat, meanwhile, in his affidavit, admitted that he was responsible in ensuring Azmin got more votes than the turnout on that day.
He said that although only about 50 members had come, he was responsible in showing that more than 400 members have voted. This was done through extra votes made by individuals through extra ballot papers.
"The extra ballot papers were supplied by the election coordinator for the purpose of casting extra votes for Azmin... " said Ardat in his affidavit.
Chee named division chief Mudry Nasir @ Mazry and Saifuddin as defendants.
No date has been fixed to hear the applications. FMT learnt that at least one other division in Sabah will be filing a similar suit soon.
PKR has won one court action
Both suits filed today want the court to declare the election results in the two divisions – all favouring Azmin – invalid and for fresh polls to be conducted.
The controversy over the elections in these divisions, and in many other divisions nationwide, prompted Zaid Ibrahim to pull out for the race. He subsequently quit the party. The other candidate, Mustaffa Kamil Ayub, contested under protest.
Azmin has been officially announced as the new deputy at the party's national congress on Nov 28.
It is uncertain if the Sandakan court will entertain these applications by the disgruntled members as one such application, by former deputy secretary-general P Jenapala against the party to call for fresh polls, was rejected by the Kuala Lumpur High Court last month.
The High Court ruled that that it had no jurisdiction to hear Jenapala's suit as a result of constraints imposed by the Societies Act.
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