Court upholds BN's Annuar as Ketereh MP

KOTA BARU: Barisan Nasional's (BN) Tan Sri Annuar Musa has been upheld as the Ketereh member of parliament by the Election Court here today which struck out Parti Keadilan Rakyat's (PKR) petition challenging his win at last year's 13th General Election.
Judge Datuk John Louis O'hara ordered PKR's Ab Aziz Ab Kadir to pay RM10,000 in cost each to Annuar, the Ketereh returning officer and the Election Commission, as the first, second and third respondents in the case.
Judge O'hara said Annuar was selected as the Ketereh member of parliament in a fair manner at the last general election.
Annuar was represented by lawyer Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun, while senior Federal Counsel Azizan Md Arshad represented the second and third respondents. Lawyer Hisham Fauzi appeared for Ab Aziz.
In Dec 2013 and Jan this year, BN had submitted an initial objection under Section 35(A) of the Election Offences Act among other grounds that the petition had breached the six-month time limit from the general election and that its facts were insufficient to support annulling Annuar's win.
In the 13th General Election, Annuar, who is also Umno Ketereh division chief, defeated Ab Aziz by a majority of 974 votes.
On July 23 2013, the Election Court had dismissed Ab Aziz' petition but the Federal Court allowed his appeal to set aside the dismissal.
Meanwhile, met outside the court, Mohd Hafarizam said today's decision was the final petition in relation to last year's general election. – Bernama