PUTRAJAYA, July 28 — The Federal Court has postponed to August 1 the hearing for Barisan Nasional candidate (BN) 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 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 Shafee was on medical leave due to severe migraine and vertigo.
Zabariah, who sat with Datuk Seri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim and Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan, said the appeal will proceed on August 1 with an in-person sitting.
At today’s online proceeding, Sarah told the court Shafee had been advised to restrict mobility to avoid a fall.
Senior federal counsel Suzana Atan appeared for the returning officer and the Election Commission, while lawyer Lau Yi Leong, who represented Segamat MP R. Yuneswaran, did not object to the postponement.
In the GE15 held last year, Pakatan Harapan candidate Yuneswaran won the seat with a majority of 5,669 votes and was declared MP for that constituency, defeating Ramasamy, Perikatan Nasional’s P. Poobalan and Pejuang’s Syed Hairoul Faizey.
Ramasamy 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 an MP.
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 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
