PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has postponed to Aug 1 to hear Barisan Nasional candidate Tan Sri M. Ramasamy’s appeal to challenge the 15th general election (GE15) results for the Segamat parliamentary seat as his lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah is unwell.
A three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof postponed the hearing, which had been earlier fixed for today, following a request by co-counsel Sarah Maalini Abishegam, who told the court that Muhammad Shafee was on medical leave due to severe migraine and vertigo.
Justice Zabariah, who sat with Justices Datuk Seri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim and Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan, said the appeal will proceed on Aug 1 and it would be a physical sitting.
Earlier at today’s online proceeding, Sarah told the court that Muhammad Shafee had been advised to restrict his movement to prevent him from falling.
Senior federal counsel Suzana Atan appeared for the returning officer and the Election Commission, while lawyer Lau Yi Leong, who represented Segamat Member of Parliament R. Yuneswaran, did not object to the postponement.
In the GE15 held in November last year, Pakatan candidate Yuneswaran won the seat with a majority of 5,669 votes and was declared the elected member of parliament for that constituency defeating Ramasamy, Perikatan Nasional’s P. Poobalan and Pejuang’s Syed Hairoul Faizey.
Ramasamy, who is MIC treasurer, stood as a candidate for Barisan Nasional.
He subsequently filed a petition seeking among others, a declaration that the parliamentary election for the Segamat constituency was void and a declaration that Yuneswaran was not duly elected as a member of parliament.
He named Yuneswaran, the returning officer and the Election Commission as respondents.
On April 3 this year, Election Court judge Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid dismissed Ramasamy’s election petition after accepting the preliminary objections raised by the respondents.
The objections raised by the respondents included that Ramasamy failed to comply with Rule 15(4) of the Election Petition Rules 1954 pertaining to the particulars of his (Ramasamy’s) affidavit of service and on his failure to comply with the Election Petition Rules regarding the facts pleaded in his petition which were incapable of sustaining the declarations sought. – BERNAMA
