KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — PKR vice president Chua Tian Chang filed a lawsuit seeking to compel the Election Commission to accept his nomination as a candidate for the Batu parliamentary seat today.

According to the Malaysiakini news portal, Chua’s lawyers submitted the suit with the High Court here this morning.

The suit named the returning officer and the EC as respondents.

On Saturday, the EC ruled that Chua was disqualified by a RM2,000 fine he received in March, notwithstanding the High Court’s explanation that the amount was chosen explicitly to avoid affecting his eligibility to run for and hold office.

Article 48(1)(e) of the Federal Constitution states that the membership of a MP can be disqualified if the person has been convicted of an offence by a court and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year, or to a fine of not less than RM2,000.

Lawyer Ngeow Chow Ying who represented Chua, who is commonly called Tian Chua, said they were able to secure a hearing for 10.30am on Thursday, May 3.

Chua’s lawyers earlier applied for the hearing to be expedited in light of the ongoing general election.

In his supporting affidavit, Chua cited his continuation as a federal lawmaker despite receiving a similar fine before, noting that he had also contested in the 2013 general election without issue.

He also cited Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia’s assertion that the fine did not disqualify him from remaining an elected lawmaker.

The legality of the matter was never fully established as the Federal Constitution states that a candidate is disqualified if he has been fined “not less than RM2,000”.

Some interpret this to mean RM2,001 and above, but others including the late Karpal Singh believe that a fine of RM2,000 is exactly enough to trigger the disqualification.