KOTA KINABALU, Aug 6 — The High Court here has allowed a hearing for Barisan Nasional’s (BN) election petition for the Klias state seat won by Sabah opposition chief Datuk Lajim Ukin in the May 5 general election.
According to a report in The Star Online today, the court however rejected Lajim’s election petition challenging the result of the Beaufort parliamentary seat in the general election, which he lost to BN.
Lajim won the Klias seat with 342-vote majority when he beat BN’s Isnin Aliasnih, the petitioner, who secured 6,182 votes against Lajim’s 6,324.
Justice Yew Jen Kie struck out Isnin’s petition against the returning officer (RO) and Election Commission (EC) and ordered Isnin to pay them RM10,000 each in costs.
According to the report, Yew said Isnin did not plead how the RO and EC’s actions had affected the outcome of the Klias seat.
Yew also struck out Lajim’s petition challenging the validity of the Beaufort results. The seat was won by BN’s Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun.
Lajim was ordered to pay RM30,000 in costs to Azizah and RM10,000 each to RO Jupari@Jupri Etok and the EC during the hearing yesterday.
The Star Online report said Lajim had challenged the outcome of the Beaufort results in his petition filed on June 11 on various grounds, including abuse of power, unqualified individuals casting their votes, vote buying and discrepancies in the election process.
Lajim, the Beaufort incumbent, was involved in a three-cornered fight with Azizah and Guan Dee Bin Koh Hoi of STAR Sabah.
Azizah, now the deputy women, family and community development minister, obtained 12,827 votes, winning by 673 votes, to Lajim’s 12,154 votes while Guan Dee only received 409 votes.
